
ELEMENTARY 

AGRICULTURE 

OF 

TENNESSEE 



HATCH, HASELWOOD 

AND 

KEFFER 





Row, Peterson &Co, 




Class __Si-4:25_ 

Book_JT55_ 
CopightN" 

COPVRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

OF 

TENNESSEE 

WITH 

PRACTICAL ARITHMETIC 



K. L. HATCH 



ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION, 
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN 



J. A. HASELWOOD 

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, JEFFERSON COUNTY, AND 
SENATOR FROM THE 23d DISTRICT, WISCONSIN 



AND 

CHARLES A. KEFFER 

PROFESSOR OF HORTICULTURE. UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE 



CHICAGO 

ROW, PETERSON & COMPANY 

1909 






Copyrighted, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1909, by 
K. L. Hatch and Charles A. Keffer 



4 • « 

,Cla.A, 24 4 514 
JUL ^2 1909 



PREFACE 

As the population of our country increases, it is fast 
becoming evident that two things must be done : poorer 
soil must be cultivated, and what is already under culti- 
vation must be made to produce more. In either case 
more thoughtful methods in agriculture are absolutely 
essential. The farmer of to-morrow, who is to-day the 
farmer's boy, must know how to farm better than his 
father does. In order to do this, he must acquire a more 
or less complete knowledge of the sciences on which 
agriculture is based. 

The farmer of the future must be able to read farm 
papers understandingly, or better still, he should be 
trained for his life work in some agricultural school as 
doctors, lawyers and teachers are now trained. It is the 
purpose of this book to give to the farmer's child, who 
studies it, a start in such necessary knowledge. The 
language used is plain and simple, and may be readily 
understood by any bright boy or girl of twelve years of 
age. All scientific terms are defined in a simple way 
whenever it has been necessary to introduce them. 

Each chapter is followed by a set of practical farm 
problems to be used as exercises for the arithmetic class. 
These problems have a definite relation to the subject 
matter which they follow, as well as a close relation to 
farm life. Wherever appropriate at the close of a chapter 
some experimental studies are added. It is believed that 
the working out of these, exercises will enable the farmer's 
children to solve ordinary practical problems arising on 



PREFACE 

the farm, and prepare for the more complex ones of ex- 
perimental agriculture. 

It is hoped that the careful study of this book will 
lead to a deeper interest in farm life, and to a more 
careful and systematic study of the soils, crops, feeds, 
fertilizers, and the like, by the children in the rural schools 
and perhaps, incidentally, by the farmers themselves. 

It is a wholesome indication of the trend of educational 
thought, that the legislatures of several states have made 
compulsory the study of agriculture in the district schools. 

We trust that this little book, by combining the subjects 
of arithmetic and agriculture, will be of material assist- 
ance to teachers in their efforts to do effective work in 
both branches. H. & H. 

PREFACE TO TENNESSEE EDITION. 

In adapting this text for use in the public schools of 
Tennessee I have endeavored to retain its numerous ex- 
cellent features, making only such changes and additions 
as differences in soil and kinds of crops render necessary. 
But several chapters have been rewritten, and two wholly 
new chapters have been added. The Bulletins of the 
University of Tennessee have been listed and the score 
cards used here have been substituted for those in the 
first edition. 

Thanks are due the Tennessee Experiment Station for 
the use of cuts, to the Agricultural Department of the 

University for the use of score cards, and to Professors 
H. A. Morgan and C. A. Mooers for helpful criticism. 

Charles A. Keffer. 
University of Tennessee, 
Knoxville, June, 1909. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

-I. THE THREE KINGDOMS 9 

II. THE GEOWTH OF PLANTS 15 

III. THE PLANT AND THE WATER 24 

IV. PLANT FOODS 29 

V. SOIL 37 

>^ VI. AGRICULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF TEN- 
NESSEE 48 

VII. TPIE SOIL AND THE CROP 52 

VIII. WEARING OUT THE SOIL 61 

IX. LEGUMES 67 

X. TILLING THE SOIL 73 

XI. DRAINING THE SOIL 81 

XI I.- THE CROP 87 

XIII. INSECTS AND DISEASES THAT INJURE 

THE CROPS 96 

XIV. THE DESTRUCTION OF WEEDS 106 

XV. THE STOCK ON THE FARM 110 

XVI. FEEDING THE STOCK 118 

XVII. THE THREE C'S— COWS, CORN AND 

CLOVER 132 

XVI 1 1. THE DAIRY 138 

XIX. POULTRY 149 

XX, SPECIAL CROPS 155 

XXI. FARM BUILDINGS 166 

XXII. FARM ACCOUNTS 174 

XXIII. FORESTRY 181 

XXIV. HOME AND SCHOOL GROUNDS 188 

XXV. SCHOOL GARDENING 193 

XXVI. HOME GARDENING 197 

XXVII. BARN PLAN AND VENTILATION 201 

W.XXVI1I. CORN AND STOCK JUDGING 206 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

CHAPTER I 

THE THREE KINGDOMS 

What Agriciiltiire Means. — The word agriculture is 
derived from the two Latin words agcr, meaning field, 
and cultiira, meaning tillage or cultivation, and hence 
the word should mean tilling the field ; but, like many 
other words, it has come to have a larger meaning 
than it had originally, and to-day the word agriculture 
includes all the work of the farm — the care of all 
kinds of live stock as well as the care of all kinds of 
crops and of the soil in which they grow. 

The Farm Cycle. — The soil, plants, and animals are 
dependent one upon the other for their improvement, 
and even for keeping them in their present condition. 
Every farmer wants to grow the best crops possible, 
and to do this he must keep his land fertile. Poor soil 
will not produce good crops, because every plant must 
have food, the same as every boy, and an important 
part of the food of plants comes from the soil. So the 
farmer feeds his plants when he puts manure or fer- 
tilizer on the land. The plants thus draw their nourish- 
ment from the soil. The animals, in their turn, live 



10 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

on plants. Horses and cattle and hogs eat grain, cot- 
ton-seed meal, grass, hay, and fodder, and they grow 
on these just as the plants grow on the food they find 
in the soil and the air. 

Now, everywhere in the world there is decay going 
on. Plants that have been fed by the soil, left to them- 
selves, die and decay, a part of them passes into the 
air, and a part returns to the soil again, making it 
richer. The animals which have fed on other plants, 
use a part of what they eat in energy or work, and 
another part in maintaining their bodies; the re- 




HOW THE THREE KINGDOMS ARE RELATED. 

mainder of the food returns to the soil as manure, and 
in time the animals die, and their bodies slowly decay 
and a part of them returns to the soil, the same as in 
the case of plants. 

All these products of life, decaying leaves, twigs, 
fruits, weeds, corn and cotton stalks, trees, and the 
manure of animals as well as the bodies of all the 
animals that die, in time pass into the soil or the air. 
Such as remain in the soil become again food for 



THE THREE KINGDOMS II 

plants, and these again become food for animals. Thus 
we see that nothing is lost in nature, but everything 
moves in a circle, from soil to plant, from plant to 
animal, from plant and animal to soil again. The 
remains of plants and animals are called organic mat- 
ter, to distinguish them from matter derived w^hoUy 
from minerals. 

King of Three Kingdoms. — The farmer bases all 
his work on this round of life. He is king of three 
kingdoms, and when he neglects any one of them, 
mineral (soil), vegetable (crops), or animal (live 
stock), he is sure to fail wholly or in part; for each 
is dependent on the other. 

This idea may be new to most of us. There are 
very few farmers anywhere who take equally good 
care of all three kingdoms, but if you will ask your 
father about it I think he will agree with me, and tell 
you that the very best farmer he knows has good live 
stock, good crops, and good land. 

Needed Changes. — In the South we have neglected 
the animal kingdom, and our land has suffered. Com- 
mercial fertilizers may supply as much or even more 
plant food than barnyard manure, but they do not have 
as good an effect on the soil in other ways. A good 
way to prevent the washing of sloping fields, which in 
many places has made the land useless for farming, is 
to change the system employed, making live stock the 
selling product of the farm, instead of grain or cotton. 
Where only plant products are produced one kingdom 
is wholly neglected, and we must keep all three king- 



12 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

doms working together for us if we would become the 
best of farmers. 

What Farmers Should Know. — The care of three 
kingdoms is a great work, and to do it well one should 
understand the nature of each. Agriculture means 
much more than cultivating the soil ; for the soil is 
only a part of one of the three kingdoms of the farmer. 
The soil is by far the most important part of the min- 
eral kingdom, but to know all about it one must know 
about the rock of which it was made, and many other 
things, too difficult for the beginner to understand. 

The farmer needs to know how plants do their work, 
and how they get their food from the soil. He must 
understand what conditions are best for the growing 
plants, and how best to supply these conditions. He 
must know, too, how to treat the plants so as to make 
of them the best food for his animals. For example, if 
you want to use cowpeas for hay, do you harvest them 
at the same time you would if you wanted nothing but 
the seed ? Is clover cut at the same stage for hay and 
for seed? Is corn for ensilage grown in the same way 
as corn for grain? The answers to these questions 
indicate that the way in which a crop should be handled 
depends on the use to be made of it. 

There are a great many families of plants and of 
animals that are not of use to the farmer. It is not 
necessary for the farmer's boy to know all about llamas 
because the people of the Andes Mountains use them 
as we use horses; but every member of the animal 
kingdom has some relation to the plant and the min- 



THE THREE KINGDOMS 13 

eral kingdoms, and knowledge of all helps us to better 
understand the particular plants and animals with 
which the farmer works. It is not only the useful 
plants and animals and the fertile soils we should 
study : the farmer must know both useful and harmful 
insects; he must study weeds if he would learn how to 
protect useful plants from them. He should know 
what birds help him by destroying harmful insects, and 
what birds harm him by destroying his grain. When 
you think about it, do you not see the relation between 
soil and plants, plants and animals, plants, animals and 
soil ? Do you not see that the changes move in a circle 
and that the good farmer is the king of three king- 
doms? 




O 

h4 

O 
U 

H 
P 

a 

l-H 

o 

O 

K 
o 



c 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE GROWTH OF PLANTS. 

What Makes Plants Grow. — If you were asked, 
"What makes a pig grow?" you would reply, ''Milk, 
grass, corn, etc.," but if you were asked, "What makes 
a plant grow?" would you answer so readily, "The 
food which it consumes?" But this is precisely what 
you should reply. Plants, like animals, must have 
food and drink, and like animals, they perish without 
them. At some later time, we shall tell you what 
these foods are, in such a way that you will readily 
recognize them at sight. For the present, however, 
we shall observe the way in which plants grow and 
find out, if possible, the source from which they get 
their first food. 

The little pig, or lamb, or calf lives and grows upon 
the milk of its mother until it is large enough to 
search for its own food. It then begins to use the 
same food as the larger animals of its kind. Now, 
from what source does the little plant get its first 
food? 



ro 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



How Plants Store Food. — If you will carefully 
remove the skin from a bean that has been soaked 
over night, and then separate it into two parts, you 
will discover two tiny leaves near one end, between 
the two halves of the bean. Extending in the oppo- 
site direction is a tiny stem and root. This little plant 
is called the germ or embryo, and it is this germ which 





A BEAN PLANT. 
A DICOTYLEDON. 



A SPLIT BEAN. 

E — Embryo. 

C — Cotyledon. 



A CORN PLANT. 

A MONOCOTYLEDON 



later develops into a full grown plant. The two halves 
of the bean serve as a storehouse for food, and are 
called cotyledons. If a kernel of corn is taken instead, 
and examined in the same way, the same kind of little 
plant will be found. Instead of two leaves pointing 
upward, as in the bean, but one will be found in the 
corn. The peanut will be found to resemble the bean 
in this respect; wheat and rye resemble the corn. 



WHY PLANTS GROW II 

ClassiUcatvon of Plants. — In the spring, as soon as 
the young plants begin to come up, go out into the 
garden and field and notice how many leaves are first 
seen from the seed. In one list write the names of all 
plants showing but a single leaf or sprout, and name 
that list monocotyledons. In another list write the 
names of all plants showing a pair of first leaves and 
call these plants dicotyledons, and you will have begun 
the systematic study of botany. If you are interested, 
you will not wait for spring, but will want to begin 
now, which you may do by planting all kinds of seeds 
grown on the farm in sawdust in an old pan kept 
in a light, warm place. You can then examine these 
seeds from day to day and watch their growth. 

Germination. — If you keep these seeds wet they will 
grow well for a few days, and then they will wither 
and die. Now, why is this? Because the little plant- 
let lives on the food contained in the seed until this 
food is all used up, and the plant has attained sufficient 
size and strength to get its food from the soil. But it 
cannot get srtfficient food from the sawdust, and of 
course it starves to death, just as a little pig would 
starve if it were not given sufficient food. 

Why Plants Store Up Food. — When asked why 
plants store up so much food matter in seeds we 
usually answer, "To furnish food for animals and 
men." Nothing could be further from the truth. 
Nature intended this food matter, not for man, but 
for the little plantlets, found in the seeds, to use for 
their own growth until they are large enough to get it 



12 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 




for themselves directly from the soil. Make this 
experiment : From soaked beans or kernels of corn, 
cut away about two-thirds of this food matter, being 

very careful not to injure the 
embryos, and watch the 
sprouting of what remains. 
These sprouts will wither 
and die much sooner than 
those from perfect seeds, be- 
cause not enough nourish- 
ment is left to supply them 
with food until they are 
large enough to get it from 
the soil. This should teach 
us that we cannot be too 
careful in the selection of 
large, well developed seeds 
if we wish strong, healthy 
plants and, consequently, 
good crops. 

Every farmer's child must have noticed how pota- 
toes shrivel up when they sprout in the cellar. This 
is due to the fact that the young sprout uses up a 
part of the potato as food for its own growth. 

Necessity of Moisture, Heat, Air, and Light. — But 
there are other things necessary for the growth of 
plants. Grain rarely grows in the bin or stack, and 
if it does, you will say that it is because the grain 
is too wet. Moisture, then, is another requisite for 
plant growth. But even wet grain fails to grow in 
the winter time because heat is necessary. Neither 



Drawing from life, show- 
ing effect of cutting away a 
portion of the cotyledons on 
the growth of the plant. The 
same results will be obtained 
by using small and large 
seeds. Try it. 



WHY PLANTS GROW 13 

will crops grow in ground covered with water, because 
all growing plants must have air, and much water 
keeps the air out of the soil. There is still another 
requisite to plant growth, and that is light. No plant 
grows well in dense shade, and without sunlight plants 
alwa3^s have a yellow and sickly appearance. 

Summary. — Good seeds and proper conditions of 
soil, moisture, air, heat and light are essential to plant 
growth, and a part of the study of agriculture consists 
in determining just how to control these conditions. 
*'What?" you ask, ''Can the farmer control the amount 
of heat, air and moisture in the soil?" He can, and 
it is the purpose of this little book to teach the farmer's 
children how it may be done. 

A good bulletin on the subject treated in this chapter may be 
had free on application to the Secretary of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington, D. C, or to your Senator or Representative in Congress. 

Write for Farmers' Bulletin, No. iii. — The Farmer's Interest 
in Good Seed. 

Experimental Study of Seeds. 

1. Place a folded newspaper in the bottom of a 
cigar box, a crayon box, or on a plate ; moisten with 
water, and place another folded newspaper over the 
first one. Between the papers place one hundred of 
the seeds to be tested, and set aside in a warm place 
for a few days. Keep the paper moist but not wet. 
At the end of a week the number of sprouted seeds 
represents the percentage of good seeds. 

2. Select ten very small seeds and an equal num- 
ber of very large seeds of the same kind, and plant 



14 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

them at equal distances in parallel rows in the same 
box. Note which make the most rapid and vigorous 
growth during the first week; the second week; the 
third week. 

3. Select seeds from a supply that has been pre- 
viously tested and found to be good. Place a dozen 
of these seeds on paper in each of three dishes. Cover 
the seeds in the first dish with water and keep them 
completely covered. In the second dish keep the seeds 
half covered with water. In the third dish keep the 
paper on which the seeds are placed always moist, but 
do not allow water to stand around the seeds. Which 
seeds germinate most rapidly? Why? What finally 
happens to the seeds immersed in water? Explain. 

4. Plant some seeds in moist soil and others in 
the same kind of soil kept very wet. Note the dif- 
ference in germination and growth. Explain. 

5. Start some beans growing well in each of two 
boxes side by side on the window sill ; then cover one 
lot with another box or a paper cone. At the end of 
a week remove the cover and note the effect that 
absence of light has had on the growth and appearance 
of the plants. 

6. Provide for the growth of seedlings against 
glass. This may be done by planting seeds in a glass 
jar, a tumbler, or even in an old crayon box set on 
end, the other end removed, and a piece of glass put 
in the place of the cover. By pressing the seeds close 
against the glass their germination and growth can 
be easily observed from day to day. 



WHY PLANTS GROW 21 

Table I. 

TalDle showing legal weight per bushel of farm products in 
Tennessee: 

Wheat 60 lbs. Buckwheat 50 lbs. 

Peas 60 lbs. Oats 32 lbs. 

Beans 60 lbs. Clover Seed 60 lbs. 

Irish Potatoes 60 lbs. Cotton Seed 28 lbs. 

Sweet Potatoes 50 lbs. Millet 50 lbs. 

Onions 56 lbs. Orchard Grass Seed. ... 14 lbs. 

Corn (shelled) 56 lbs. Peanuts 23 lbs. 

Corn in ear, shucked 70 lbs. Red Top Grass Seed. . . .14 lbs. 

Rye 56 lbs. Timothy Grass Seed. . . .45 lbs. 

Barley 48 lbs. Italian Rye Grass Seed. . 20 lbs. 

Handy Values. 

A bushel requires about 134 cubic feet of space. 

A bushel of corn in the ear requires about 2 cubic feet of space. 

A barrel of water requires about 4 cubic feet of space. 

A ton of hay fills about 512 cubic feet of space, or 8x8x8 cubic 
feet. 

A cubic foot of water weighs (ilVz pounds. 

Note I : All the above should be memorized. 

Note II : Pupils should also memorize table of avoirdupois 
weight, dry measure, liquid measure, long measure, square 
measure, and cubic measure, with all the necessary abbreviations. 

Problems. 

1. How many pounds of wheat are grown on an 
acre yielding 25 bushels? 

2. How many pounds are grown on eight acres at 
the same rate? How many tons? 

3. How many square rods in an acre ? How many 
pounds would that be per square rod ? 



i6 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

4. What is the value per acre of the above at 
80c per bushel? 

5. At the same rate what is the value of all the 
wheat grown on a piece of land containing 240 square 
rods? 

6. At 90c per bushel what is the value of the wheat 
grown on an acre if the yield is 20 bushels? 

7. Which is the more valuable, the crop in problem 
4 or that in problem 6? 

8. If 20 bushels of 90c wheat can be grown on 
an acre, how many pounds is that per acre? What 
is the price per pound ? How many pounds are grown 
on a square rod? What is the value of the wheat 
grown on a square rod? 

9. At the same rate and price, what is the value 
of the wheat grown on a piece of ground 14 rods wide 
and 20 rods long? 

10. How many acres in a field 40 rods long and 
24 rods wide? 

11. If a man can plow 2 acres per day, how long 
will it take him to plow the above field? What will 
it cost at $2 per day? 

12. What will be the cost of plowing a 40 acre 
field at the same rate? 

13. If a man and team can seed 8 acres per day 
how long will it take to seed a 40 acre field? What 
will it cost at $2 per day? 

14. At 50c per acre w'hat will be the cost of cut- 
ting this crop? 



WHY PLANTS GROW 17 

15. It will cost about $0.25 per acre to stack the 
grain. Find the cost of stacking. 

16. What is the threshing bill at 2 cents per 
bushel? Find the entire cost of the crop. 

17. If the yield has been 20 bushels per acre, 
worth 90 cents per bushel, how much has the farmer 
made over and above the entire cost of labor? 

18. How much has he made if the crop has yielded 
25 bushels per acre, worth $0.80 per bushel ? 

19. Have any items of the cost of producing this 
wheat been omitted? If so, what? Should we allow 
for them? Let us do so and find the result. 

20. With a crop of 50 bushels of shelled corn per 
acre, worth $0.40 per bushel, work the same series of 
problems, omitting such as do not apply to corn 
raising. 

To the Teacher : The above list of problems is intended to 
suggest others. Ask the pupils to find the current prices of corn, 
oats, barley, hay, etc. What is considered a good crop per acre 
of each of these? Then estimate the cost of labor. Have 
them furnish all the necessary data. This they can get from 
home. Make up a list of problems similar to the above from 
data furnished by the pupils. Let one pupil furnish data for one 
set of problems, another pupil furnish data for another set, and 
so on. Pass the honors around. You should have both parents 
and pupils interested before you have progressed far with this 
work. Observe this policy throughout the course of instruction 
in this branch. It will be observed that there is a logical order 
in arrangement of the problems ; in many cases the conditions 
necessary for the solution of a problem are found in one preced- 
ing it. 



CHAPTER II 



THE PLANT AND WATER 



Kinds of Plant Foods. — We have already seen that 
the seed furnishes the food for the httle plantlet until 
it is large enough to get food from the soil, in much 
the same way that the mother cow furnishes milk for 
her calf until the calf is large enough to find its own 
food. If asked, ''What are the foods which a cow 
eats?" you would probably answer, ''Grass, hay, straw, 
oats, bran, etc." Not many of us could answer 
so readily if asked to give a list of plant foods. There 
are but a dozen of them, and half of these are nearly 
as well known to you as cattle foods. The most 
familiar are : water, lime, iron oxide,"^ soda.t ammonia, 
and sand.l The other six are : magnesia, potash, car- 
bon dioxide, and three acids, viz. : phosphoric, hydro- 
chloric, and sulphuric. 

Plants and Water. — Now let us consider these plant 
foods. Every one knows that plants cannot live with- 
out water, but few persons stop to think of the enor- 
mous amount of water consumed daily by an acre of 
growing vegetation. You may make this experiment : 
Put exactly the same amount of water in each of two 

* Iron-rust, t Ammonia contains the ekment nitrogen, t Silica. 



THE PLANT AND THE WATER 



19 



similar vessels — tumblers, glass fruit- jars or even old 
tin cans will answer. Pull up a thrifty bunch of clover 
and put its roots into one of these vessels of water. 
Stand both on a table or shelf side by side. In a few 
days you will notice that the water in the vessel 
containing the clover is disappearing much more rap- 
idly than that in the other vessel. As soon as the 
clover begins to wilt take it out of the water and by 




Relative amounts of 
water at the beginning of 
the experiment. 



Relative amounts of 
water at the end of the 
experiment. 



measuring compare what remains in the two vessels. 
Of course, both have lost by evaporation — that is, both 
have ''dried up," as we say — but, if the vessels are of 
the same size, there should be equal evaporation. 
Why, then, should not the remainders be equal? Be- 
cause the clover plant has been using up water. The 
difference between what remains in the two cans repre- 
sents the amount used by the clover plant. 

Hozv Plants Use Water. — Plants make use of water 
in two ways. In the first place, they use it as food 
just the same as animals do. In the second place, a 
plant cannot eat solid food. It has neither mouth nor 
teeth and it must take in its food in liquid form 



20 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

through its roots. The sohd foods mentioned above 
dissolve in water — just as sugar dissolves in coffee — 
and in this dissolved condition they are easily taken in 
by the roots of the plant. Substances such as salt, 
that dissolve in water, are said to be soluable, and the 
plant fluid containing these dissolved substances is 
called sap. The solid food, with a portion of the 
water, is taken from the sap to be used in plant growth, 
and the remaining water is passed off to the air 
through little holes in the leaves. This is the reason 
why plants need so much water. Grain uses up 
hundreds of tons of water per acre during the growing 
season. 

Moisture Can Be Regulated. — But you ask : ''Can 
the farmer regulate the amount of moisture in the 
soil? Does not that depend wholly upon rainfall?" 
No, it does not depend upon rainfall. If the ground 
is too wet, the farmer can drain it by ditching or tiling, 
and by careful cultivation he can keep the moisture 
in the soil in times of drought. Just how this is done 
is left for later discussion. 

Experimental Study of Water in Plants. 

1. Place a clean, dry glass vessel over a growing 
plant. A fruit-jar or a tumbler will do. In a few 
hours wdiat appears on the inner surface of the glass? 
Where does this moisture come from? How can you 
show that it does not come from the soil ? 

2. Place a thrifty clover plant in a clean, dry glass 
jar and seal it tight. In a few hours what appears on 



THE PLANT AND THE WATER 21 

the inner surface of the bottle? Explain what you 
observe. 

3. Place some cut flowers that have begun to 
wither in a vessel containing cold water, immersing 
all except the blossoms. Set in a cool place for several 
hours. What change occurred ? Explain. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

Fanners' Bulletins. 

No. 46. — Irrigation in Humid Climates 

No. 116. — Irrigation in Fruit Growing. 

No. 138. — Irrigation in Field and Garden. 

No. 158. — How to Build Small Irrigation Ditches. 

Table II. 
Table showing proportions of water in farm crops. 

One bushel of root crops contains about 55 pounds of water. 

One bushel of potatoes contains about 45 pounds of water. 

One bushel of corn (dry, shelled) contains about 5 pounds of 
water. 

One bushel of wheat contains about 6 pounds of water. 

One bushel of oats contains about 3 pounds of water. 

One ton of dry hay contains about 300 pounds of water. 

One ton of green feed contains from 1,500 to 1,800 pounds of 
water. 

Note: This represents only the water left in the plants and 
seeds as a part of them. By far the greater amount used by the 
plant passes off to the air through the pores in the leaves. 

Problems. 

I. If rain falls an inch deep on the level, how 
many cubic inches is that per square foot? Per square 



22 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

yard? Per square rod? How many cubic feet per 
square rod ? Per acre ? 

2. About how many barrels of water fall on an 
acre with i inch rainfall? 

3. How many tons will this water weigh? 

4. The total rainfall during the year in Wisconsin 
is about four feet. What does the water weigh that 
falls during the year on a square yard of ground ? On 
a square rod ? How many tons to the acre ? 

5. Suppose the plants use one-eighth of this, what 
is the weight of the water used by a square yard of 
vegetation? A square rod? An acre? 

6. Suppose potatoes contain three-fourths of their 
weight of water. How many pounds of water in a 
bushel of potatoes ? 

7. If 150 bushels per acre of potatoes is a good 
yield, how many pounds of water in the potatoes 
grown on an acre ? 

8. By the aid of data furnished by the members 
of the class make and solve at least ten other similar 
problems. 



CHAPTER III 

PLANT FOODS 

Lime. — Lime is known to every child. It is known, 
too, that lime will dissolve slowly in water, and thus 
become available for plant food. Large quantities of 
lime are found in the soil. Of course, it comes from 
the lime rock. 

Soda. — Soda, or saleratus, as it is sometimes called, 
is also easily dissolved in water. Soda is made from 
common salt and the plants get it from the soil. 

*/r(9w Oxide. — Iron oxide gives the red or yellow 
color to rocks and soils. It dissolves in water, especially 
after a little acid is added. 

The Use of Acids. — But what is an acid? The 
commonest kind of acid, without which no farmer's 
wife could well get along, is vinegar. Acids are 
usually sour in taste, and their presence in the soil as- 
sists water in dissolving rock. A copper penny can be 
made bright, or an old brass ring to look like gold, 
by rubbing it with a little vinegar. This is because 
the acid dissolves off the tarnish and leaves the clean 
surface exposed. Some of the plant foods dissolve 
much more readily in water to which a little acid has 
been added. Soda is a good example. Put a tea- 
* Iron-rust. 



24 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

spoonful of it in a cup about one-fourth full of water 
without stirring. Add a little vinegar and notice what 
takes place. The soda disappears because the acid 
acts on it. Gas is given off very rapidly, causing it 
to bubble and "foam." This gas is carbon dioxide, 
one of the four acids named in the last chapter. These 
acids help the water to dissolve the plant foods in the 
soil and are themselves taken in as plant foods. 

''^Silica. — Silica needs no discussion. By some it is 
believed to be the food that gives stiffness to the stalks 
of barley, oats and other grains, which, when grown 
on rich bottom land, usually ''lodge" partly because 
they are unable to get sufficient sand from the soil. 

Ammonia. — Ammonia is known bv its odor. It is 
used for cleaning clothing and windows. If you go 
into the barn on a warm morning when the barn has 
been closed during the night you will get a strong 
odor of ammonia from the horse manure. Ammonia 
is always given off to the air when animal matter 
decays. It contains the element, nitrogen, so essential 
to plant growth. 

Carbon Dioxide. — Carbon dioxide is a plant food 
and it is also found in the air. You will remember it as 
the gas that came off when you put vinegar on soda. 
This gas is always given off to the air when vegetable 
matter burns or decays. You are throwing it off from 
your lungs with every breath that you breathe. So, 
too, are all animals. Here is a simple test for it that 
any child can easily make. Put a piece of fresh lime in 
some water, shake well and let it stand until it settles 
* Sand. 



PLANT FOODS 25 

and the water is perfectly clear. Pour off this clear 
liquid into another bottle. This clear liquid is lime 
water. Some of the lime has been dissolved. Taste 
it to satisfy yourself. Now pour some of the lime 
water into a tumbler and with a straw blow bubbles 
through it. It gets milky because of the carbon 
dioxide in your lungs. Now mix up some more "soda 
water" and add vinegar. Carefully tip the tumbler so 
that the gas can run into the lime water. It is heavier 
than air and will run over the edge of the tumbler 
like water. Shake the lime water. It is milky again. 
This shows that the gas given off by the soda water 
when vinegar is added is the same as the gas given off 
by your lungs. Make one more experiment: 

Place a little lime water in a saucer and set this on 
the floor in your sleeping room over night. In the 
morning it, too, will be found to be milky. This shows 
the presence of carbon dioxide in the air. 

Magnesia. — Magnesia is known to most of us. It is 
the white powder used to whiten the skin and prevent 
soreness from the wind. 

Potash. — Potash is found in wood ashes and gives 
to lye, made therefrom, its soapy feel. 

Sources of Plant Foods. — The water, soil and air 
are the sources of plant foods. The air contains two 
— ammonia and carbon dioxide' — soil and water the 
other nine. All of these foods except carbon dioxide 
dissolve in water and enter the plant by its roots. 
Carbon dioxide is taken in directly from the air by the 
plant through the little holes in the leaves. 



26 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

Plant Starvation. — Now, if these foods are not 
found in sufficient quantity in the soil, the plant grows 
slowly and finally dies. Again, the soil may contain 
plenty of plant food, but it may not be in a form read- 
ily soluble by the water, and the plant suffers from a 
lack of food, just as one may starve within ten feet of 
plenty of food that is securely locked up so that he can 
not get at it. One problem which the farmer is called 
upon to solve is, how to make the soil of his farm 
more easily soluble. 

Effect of Too Much Food. — Plants may be killed 
by too much food. Who has not seen spots of grass 
killed out where the cattle have been salted or have 
dropped manure? This is because the plants have 
taken in too much solid food. Plants can live on so 
small an amount as one part of solid food dissolved in 
a million parts of water, and more than one part in a 
thousand kills them. One way to kill noxious weeds 
is to cover them with salt, lime, or ashes, so that they 
will get more than one part of this food in every thou- 
sand parts of water that they use. 

Soil Exhaustion. — From what we have learned it 
is clear that, if the farmer raises grain on his farm to 
sell, and never returns manure to the soil, he will rob 
it of its plant food, and it will soon begin to show 
evidence of being "worn out." Plant foods are being 
continually used up by the growing plants, and re- 
moved with them, and none are returned to take their 
place. The heavier the crop the greater will be the 



PLANT FOODS 27 

loss. Tobacco and root crops, being so much heavier, 
exhaust the soil faster than small grains. 

But worn-out soil does not mean soil in which all 
the different kinds of plant foods are used up. In 
fact, soil usually contains all plant foods in inexhaust- 
ible quantities with but three exceptions, namely : 
potash, phosphoric acid and the nitrogen found in 
ammonia. To restore the fertility of the soil means 
only to restore these three substances. The general 
rule for fertilizing soils will be taken up later. 

Experimental Study of Plant Foods. 

1. Make a collection of the following plant foods: 
Lime, iron-rust, soda, ammonia, magnesia, acid, sul- 
phur, and sand. Place each specimen in a small bottle 
and label properly. 

2. Potash may be easily prepared from wood 
ashes. Place about two quarts of wood ashes in a pan, 
cover with water, and let stand for a few hours, stir- 
ring frequently. Then allow the ashes to settle and 
pour off the clear liquid into another tin dish. Place 
this lye on the stove and evaporate all the water. The 
dry powder found on the bottom of the dish is potash. 
A little potash dissolved in water makes it feel soapy. 
This "soapy feel" is the test for potash. Put some of 
the potash in a small bottle, label, and add to the 
collection. 

3. It is very difficult to obtain uncombined phos- 
phoric acid. The easiest way to procure it is in com- 
bination with lime. Burn a bone to whiteness, crumble 



28 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

it Up, and put it into a bottle. This powder is a com- 
bination of lime and phosphoric acid. Now, if a little 
water is poured over this powder and a small quantity 
of sulphuric acid added, the lime will soon settle and 
the clear liquid will be phosphoric acid. 

4. To prepare nitrogen, provide a glass bottle 
with a large neck, a piece of wire, a bit of cotton, 
a little alcohol, and a shallow dish containing lime 
water to the depth of two inches. Twist one end of 
the wire around a small piece of cotton, and then bend 
it nearly double about three inches from the end bear- 
ing the cotton. Dip the cotton in alcohol and light it. 
Resting the wire loop on the bottom of the dish with 
the torch standing upright, place the inverted empty 
bottle over the torch so that the bottle rests on the 
bottom of the dish and the bend in the wire. Soon 
the flame dies out because the fire uses up the oxygen 
in the bottle. The oxygen has united with the carbon 
of the alcohol, forming carbon dioxide. Without 
taking the mouth of the bottle from the water, remove 
the torch, put one hand under the mouth of the bottle 
to close it tight, invert the bottle quickly, and shake. 
The lime water becomes milky, showing that the car- 
bonic acid gas has been taken up by it. The colorless, 
odorless, invisible gas now remaining in the bottle is 
nitrogen. 

Plunge a lighted taper or splinter into the gas and 
the flame is immediately extinguished, showing that 
the gas is not air. 



PLANT FOODS 



35 



Table III. 
Table showing proportions of fertilizing substances 



crops: 



OUNCES PER BUSHEL. 



Crop. Nitrogen. 

Wheat 20 oz. 

Rye 17 oz. 

Corn, shelled 14 oz. 

Barley 12 oz. 

Buckwheat 12 oz. 

Oats 10 oz. 

Potatoes 3 oz. 

Root crops, average 3 oz. 

Cotton seed 13.8 oz. 

OUNCES PER 100 LBS. 

Cotton lint 3.8 oz. 



substances 


in farm 


f'hosphoric 






Acid. 


Pot 


ash. 


8 oz. 


5 


oz. 


9 oz. 


5 


oz. 


5 oz. 


3 


oz. 


6 oz. 


4 


oz. 


4 oz. 


2 


oz. 


3 oz. 


2 


oz. 


1 oz. 


4 


oz. 


1 oz. 


2 


oz. 



5.8 oz. 



1.6 oz. 



5.4 oz. 



oz. 



POUNDS PER TON. 

Crop. Nitrogen. 

Timothy or red top hay 20 lbs. 

Clover hay 40 lbs. 

Tobacco (leaves) 60 lbs. 

Straw (average) 10 lbs. 

Sugar beets 3 lbs. 

Cow-pea hay 47.2 lbs. 

Soy Bean hay 46.4 lbs. 



Phosphoric 




Acid. 


Potash. 


9 lbs. 


30 lbs, 


10 lbs. 


40 lbs. 


13 lbs. 


80 lbs. 


4 lbs. 


20 lbs. 


1-5 lb. 


4 lbs. 


10.4 lbs. 


29.4 lbs 


13.4 lbs. 


21.6 lbs. 



Problems. 

1. How many pounds of each of the three im- 
portant fertiHzers in a crop of wheat that yields 20 bu. 
per acre? 25 bu. per acre? 

2. A corn crop of 50 bu. per acre ? 60 bu. ? 75 bu. ? 

3. An oat crop of 40 bu. per acre ? 50 bu. ? 60 bu. ? 

4. A barley crop of 40 bu. ? 45 bu. ? 50 bu. ? 



36 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

5. A potato crop of iio bn. per acre? 120 bu. ? 
1 50 bu. ? 

6. A clover hay crop of ^lA tons per acre? 4 tons? 
5 tons? 

7. A meadow hay crop of 2 tons per acre? 2^ 
tons ? 3 tons ? 

8. A tobacco crop of 1,500 lbs. per acre? 1,800 
lbs.? 

9. Compare the results and notice which crop is 
hardest on the soil. 

10. Pupils should furnish data for similar prob- 
lems. Tell how many acres of corn, wheat, hay, etc., 
were raised on the farm at home, the number of bush- 
els or tons per acre, and find the amount of the three 
essential fertilizers taken off with the crop. 



CHAPTER V 

SOIL 

Soil the Foundation of Agriculture. — Since the soil 
is the place where plants are grown, and since animals 
are supported by plant life, in a very true sense the soil 
is the foundation of agriculture. While this is true, 
the lesson of Chapter I must not be forgotten : the soil 
is one of three essentials of successful agriculture, not 
the only one. 

How Soils Are Formed. — Generally speaking, soils 
have been formed in three ways : (a) by the decay, the 
breaking up, of rocks; (b) by glaciers grinding the 
rocks into small particles; (c) by water depositing its 
sediment in certain places. Originally all soils were 
formed by the destruction of rocks. The great rock 
masses which formed the surface of the earth were 
broken and ground into small pieces. Earthquakes 
probably made the first great breaks. Then water has 
been continually dissolving away particles of the rocks. 
They have been further broken by frosts, worn by rain, 



38 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



streams, rivers, and the never idle ocean. The particles 
become gradually smaller and the different kinds mix 
so that they cease to resemble the rocks from which 
they came. 

One may see soil formation of this kind wherever a 
ledg-e of rock outcrops. The rock on top gradually 
''rots" and breaks up. The w^ater dissolves out most 
of the lime and magnesium and washes the remaining 
portions down and spreads them out at lower levels. 




Drawing, showing how rock 
griuhially breaks up and de 
cays from the top downward. 



Drawing, showing glacial 
drift deposited on top of the 
solid rock. 



The rain and snow work their way into the cracks of 
the rocks and, freezing there, break them up into 
smaller pieces. Even the wind breaks off small pieces 
and carries them away. Great drifts of sand, like 
snow, may sometimes be seen piled up by the action of 
the wind. Plants die and decay, and thus help to build 
up the soil. Roots of trees sometimes work their way 
into crevices of the rock and, growing there, split off 
great pieces. Roots also secrete a kind of acid that 



THE SOIL 39 

helps to dissolve the rock. The gases in the air help 
in breaking- up the rock, thus forming soil. Animals, 
too, like the gopher and woodchuck, burrow into the 
earth and help to tear up and break down the rock. 
When they die their bodies decay and become a part 
of the soil. Earthworms, or "angleworms" as they 
are called, feed on the soil and break up the particles 
into still finer ones. In East and Middle Tennessee the 
soils were made in this way. 

The soils of West Tennessee generally are formed 
of sediment, deposited in geologic times, which did 
not harden into rock. These soils are fairly fertile and 
durable and produce a great variety of crops, but have 
suffered from one kind of cropping and from the 
water's washing the soil from the uplands into the bot- 
toms. Less attention has been paid to live stock in 
West Tennessee than in other parts of the State, and 
the soil has been made poorer in consequence. 

Glacial or Drift Soils. — In the northern part of the 
United States are extensive deposits of glacial or drift 
soils, which are a mixture of fine clay, sand, and 
gravel. Usually granite boulders, some so large that 
a team of horses cannot move them, are intermixed 
with these soils, which w^ere made by the action of 
great glaciers that moved down from the polar regions, 
scraping up the loose earth, rocks, and stones as it 
passed sloavly along, crushing and grinding them 
together, wearing off hilltops, filling up valleys and 



40 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

depositing the gravelly material from which this soil, 
wherein the farmer now sows his seed, is made. The 
reason why the stones that may now be picked up are 
so hard is that only the hard ones could withstand the 
grinding. The softer ones were ground up and helped 
to form soil. 

Agencies of Soil Formation. — These are the agen- 
cies, then, that assist each other in the formation of 
soil : Glaciers, wind, water, frost, plants, animals, and 
gases in the air. 

Kinds of Soils. — What kinds of soils are formed by 
all these agencies? It must be remembered that all 
soil originally came from the rock, and the kind of 
soil must therefore depend on the kind of rock from 
which it was made. That is, we have sandy soil in 
sandstone regions, and in limestone regions loams are 
usually found. 

Clay Soil. — Most soils contain gravel, sand, silt, and 
clay, and the class to which a soil belongs is determined 
by the relative amounts of those of which it is com- 
posed. Where a soil contains a very large amount of 
clay with particles so fine that they cannot be separated 
by the hand, and when dust-dry seem to contain no 
grit or sand, it is called clay. The dishes we use are 
made of a very pure quality of clay ; a poorer quality is 
used for making sewer pipes, brick, and tile. Clay 
soils retain water a long time and are difficult to work. 



THE SOIL 41 

Care must be taken not to plow them while wet, 
because in drying they become very hard. 

Sandy Soil. — Sand is composed of coarse particles 
which are very hard, having sharp edges and giving a 
gritty feel in handling. Sandy soils are made up chiefly 
of sand, but generally contain some clay, silt and 
decayed organic matter. In Tennessee the purest 
sandy soils are the sand-bars along the streams ; and in 
some places there are great deposits of sand below the 
surface soil. 

Sand varies greatly in fineness. The coarsest sand 
is but little finer than gravel. Water passes through 
it very freely. The finest sand holds water much bet- 
ter than coarse sand, and is quickly warmed by the sun 
in the spring of the year. Such soils are good for 
melons and other crops requiring much warmth ; they 
wash badly, however, and are not durable under tillage. 

Loam. — Loam is a mixture of the various soil par- 
ticles in such proportions as to be easily tilled and at 
the same time be suitable for almost all kinds of crops. 
It retains water better than sand, but not so well as 
clay. Sandy soils are too porous; clay soil too tight. 
Good soil must have a constant supply of moisture and 
of air, and in loam the sand particles, being irregular 
in size and outline, separate the finer clay particles 
from one another in such a way as to leave the soil in 
excellent condition for plant growth. 



42 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

Air and Moisture in Soils. — Soils contain spaces be- 
tween the grains, and after a rain these spaces are filled 
with water, but the water soon descends into the lower 
soil, and the spaces are then filled with air. Below the 
surface every particle of soil remains covered with a 
film of water, and the roots of the plants, pushing their 
way among the soil particles, absorb the water from 
them, exactly as a blotter absorbs ink. If the spaces 
in the soil are too small, the water does not drain out 
rapidly enough, and the plants growing in such soil 
are sickly, as is shown by the color of their leaves. If 
the air spaces are too large, the soil particles dry, and 
plants in such soils in dry weather quickly wither and 
die. Loam is neither too coarse nor too fine, and 
nearly all cultivated plants grow best in loam. 

Mixture of Soils. — In nature hardly any two fields 
have soil of the same kind; there is every gradation 
from gravel through coarse sand, fine sand, sandy 
loam, clay loam, to clay. And these are of interest 
chiefly because on the fineness of soil particles depends 
the water-holding power of the soil. Farm plants do 
best in a soil of moderate water-holding power. 

Silt. — Silt consists of particles finer than very fine 
sand, but coarser than clay, and is more easily worked. 
A silt loam warms up more readily in the spring than 
clay loam, and is adapted to quick growing crops. 

Humus. — The partly decayed organic matter in a 
soil is called humus. It is usually very dark colored. 



THE SOIL 43 

Humus improves the soil for plants, first because it 
furnishes plant food, and second because it improves 
the quality of the soil, making clay less and sand more 
compact, and thus equalizing their water holding 
capacity for plants. 

When swamp lands are drained they produce 
splendid crops, because in them a great deal of organic 
matter has accumulated, and this contains more plant 
food than ordinary soils. 

Humus on Sloping Land. — Hillsides and sloping 
lands generally lose fertility when cultivated unless 
great care is taken to fertilize them properly. The 
humus that was originally deposited in these soils by 
the decay of vegetable matter is washed out by the 
rains from plowed ground, and consumed by the grow- 
ing crops. The Iocs of humus makes hillside lands 
wash badly, and unless the farmer is very careful his 
sloping fields are soon "worn out." Every year a 
heavy crop of weeds, or of some plant specially grown 
for the purpose, as crimson clover, should be plowed 
under in such fields, to form humus and thus keep 
the soil in good condition. 

The Treatment of Soils. — Of course, soils are found 
mixed in every possible proportion. This fact leads 
to a great variety of soils, and it is the farmer's busi- 
ness to learn the nature of the soil on his farm and 
how best to handle it. Loamy soils are the best farm 
lands, because of the ease with which they may be 
cultivated. They are warm soils and hold moisture 



34 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

well. A sticky clay soil may be improved in texture, 
and warmed up at the same time, by a plentiful addi- 
tion of barnyard manure containing much straw. This 
vegetable matter makes clay more like loam. The 
same treatment is also good for sand, as it in- 
creases the capacity of sand for holding moisture and 
makes it like loam. If it were possible, and less ex- 
pensive, many barren sandy places might be made fer- 
tile by adding to them plentiful quantities of swamp 
muck. This treatment would convert them into a loam 
of good quality. Plowing under full grown crops 
of rye or clover has much the same effect. Either 
method adds humus to the soil and tends to make it 
more loamy. Rye grows well on sandy soil, and clover 
is a good crop to raise on clay for plowing under. A 
good loam contains all the foods needed by growing 
plants. 

Plant Foods that Become Exhausted. — As has been 
said before, only three of these foods, with the possible 
addition of limic, ever become exhausted. You will 
remember that these three are nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid. It is the purpose of the next chapter 
to tell how you may judge from the character of the 
soil, and the growing crop, which one of these plant 
foods is most needed. 

Experimental Study of Soils. 

I. Rub a pinch of soil between the thumb and fore- 
finger. Are its particles fine or coarse ? Spread a little 
on the palm of the hand. Are the particles all of the 



SOIL 35 

same size? Does there seem to be any decayed vege- 
table matter in the soil ? What is the color of the par- 
ticles? Are they all of the same color? 

2. Small samples of soil may be spread out in a 
thin layer on white paper and further examined with a 
magnifying glass. 

3. Thoroughly dry a sample of fine sand without 
lumps, and fill a water-tight tin can with it. Fill 
another can of exactly the same size with loam pre- 
pared in the same way. From a graduate^ pour water 
on the sand, allowing time for it to soak in. Soon the 
sand will have absorbed all the water it can hold, and 
the level of the water will be even with the surface of 
the sand in the can. What has become of the water 
which you poured onto the soil ? How much water have 
you used? Now do exactly the same thing with the 
loam soil and compare results. Which soil has more 
pore space? 

4. Fill three soil tubes^ respectively with fine dry 
sand, clay, and loam. Set the filled tubes in separate 

* A graduate may be made by ruling lines one-eighth inch apart 
on a strip of paper and pasting the paper vertically on a glass 
tumbler. 

^ To prepare soil tubes : Take some tall glass bottles, wrap a 
cloth wrung out of cold water around each about half an inch 
from the bottom, and place the bottles on a hot stove. The 
sudden expansion of the bottom will usually break it off even. 
Smooth the edges with a file or on a grindstone. Plug the neck 
of each bottle with cotton, and turn it upside down. A rack for 
holding these tubes in an upright position can easily be made by 
nailing slats or stretching wire or strong cord across the top of a 
small box. Compact the soil by tapping the tube gently on the 
table. 



46 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

dishes, and pour into each from the top the same 
amount of water. When it soaks out of sight pour in 
more. Use your graduate for this, so that you will get 
exactly the same amount of water in each tube. Which 
soil holds water best? Which soil allows it to soak 
through most rapidly? 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 
Bureau of Soils. 

Circular No. 4.— Soils of Salt Lake Valley, Utah. 
Circular No. 8.— Reclamation of Salt Marsh Lands. 
Circular No. 13. — The Work of the Bureau of Soils. 

Free Bulletins, Tennessee Experiment Station, Knoxville. 

Whole No. 78, The Soils of Tennessee. 

Table IV. 
Table showing fertilizing substances in average soils: 

POUNDS PER TON. 

Phosphoric 

Soil. Nitrogen. Acid. Potash. 

Loam 7 lbs. 3 lbs. 8 lbs. 

Clay • 3 lbs. 3 lbs. 15 lbs. 

Sand 1 lb. 2 lbs. 5 lbs. 

(Adapted from Stockbridge.) 

Problems. 

1. Suppose soil is cultivated to the depth of 4 in. 
How many cu. ft. of cultivated soil per sq. ft. of area? 
Per sq. yd. ? Per sq. rod ? Per acre ? 

2. If a cu. ft. of soil weighs 75 lbs., how many lbs. 
of cultivated soil per sq. yard? Per sq. rod? Per 
acre? 



SOIL 37 

3. Find the number of pounds of nitrogen, potash 
and phosphoric acid in the cultivated soil per acre for 
each of the four kinds of soil. 

4. If the soil is cultivated to the depth of eight 
inches, how many pounds of each of the three fer- 
tilizing substances per acre in each of the soils given in 
the table ? 

5. How many pounds of nitrogen, potash and 
phosphoric acid are used, annually, per acre, by a crop 
of 20 bu. of wheat ? In how many years will one-half 
of all the nitrogen in clay be used up by this crop 
feeding to the depth of eight inches ? 

6. How will this affect future crops? 

7. Work the same problem for the other soils. 

8. Use a 50 bushel corn crop per acre and work 
problem 7. Also a 60 bu. oat crop. A 120 bu. potato 
crop. 

9. Pupils will furnish data for similar problems. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE AGRICULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF TENNESSEE 

In the geography class one studies the location of 
the principal countries, their rivers, mountains, and 
cities. Sometimes the map-work begins at home, and 
the class makes a map of the school district, or of the 
home farm, showing the location of house and barns, 
feeding lots and fields. 

Mapping the Farm. — It would be a good lesson to 
make a soil map of your farm. Try it. Get your 
father to help you. First make a map of the farm, 
indicating all the fences and creeks with solid lines. 
Then with dotted lines in different directions separate 
the farm into clay soils, loam soils, sandy-loams, etc., 
and mark by words where the thinnest, the poorest and 
the most fertile lands are. Such a map should be a 
guide as to where to put the most manure previous to 
the next plowing; where to put certain crops that the 
soil will be most benefited by them ; or crops that will 
make the least draft on the supply of plant food. 

Lands in Extreme East Tennessee. — Turn to the 
map of Tennessee, on which the principal physical sec- 
tions of the state have been indicated. In the extreme 
eastern part of the state is a mountain region. The 
main range of the Great Smoky Mountains forms the 



AGRICULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF TENNESSEE 49 

boundary between Tennessee and North Carolina, and 
among its peaks are the highest mountains east of the 
Rockies. There are many ranges of mountains branch- 
ing off from the Great Smokies, and they in turn have 
many ridges running out from them, all separated from 
one another by narrow valleys, thus making the moun- 
tain counties very rough. Everywhere among the 
mountains there are occasional comparatively level 
lands of good quality that are well adapted to the 
hardier fruits, such as apples and cherries, and to all 
farm crops. Throughout the mountain counties grass 
grows better than in other parts of the state. The 
lands generally are too rough for tillage, and they are 
all forested, except where farms have been cleared. 
This region is the best adapted, then, to stock raising, 
and to orchard farming in selected localities. 

The Tennessee Valley. — West of the Smoky Moun- 
tains is the Tennessee Valley, extending from Bristol 
to Chattanooga. This great valley is traversed in every 
direction by ridges which separate it into many smaller 
valleys, each drained by a stream. The soils are 
usually red or yellow colored loams, some gravelly and 
poor but others highly fertile. Along the larger rivers 
are broad bottom lands of great fertility. Corn, wheat, 
clover, grass and cowpeas are the principal plant crops. 
In the northern counties stock raising is an extensive 
industry. The high gravelly ridges are well adapted 
to peach growing, and in Bradley and Hamilton coun- 
ties there are large peach orchards. The Sweetwater 
Valley in McMinn County is a famous wheat and dairy 
section. Small fruits and truck crops are largely grown 



so ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

in Hamilton and Knox Counties, and in general a 
great variety of crops can be profitably grown in the 
Tennessee Valley. 

The Cumberland Plateau. — West of the Tennessee 
Valley is the Cumberland Plateau, a high table land, 
6,000 square miles in extent. Its highest point is about 
2,500 feet above the sea, and the general level is about 
2,000 feet above the sea. The soil is generally thin 
and poor. It supports a fair forest growth, the oaks 
being the most common trees. The deeper soils are 
fairly productive. Irish potatoes of fine quality are 
grown on the Plateau, and with good cultivation and a 
liberal use of fertilizers, including lime, much better 
results can be secured in general farming than are 
usual. 

The Central Basin. — Between the Cumberland 
Plateau and the Tennessee river as it flows to the 
north into Kentucky is a great basin-shaped area in the 
central part of which is the splendid farming section, 
know^n as the Central Basin, surrounded by a less 
fertile region, called the Highland Rim. The outer 
border of the Highland Rim is higher than the inner 
rim, with fertile red colored soils of limestone origin. 

The inner rim extends in a band of irregular width 
entirely around the Central Basin. Its soils are gray 
and yellow in color and are generally of poor quality. 
They respond readily to fertilizers, especially when 
lime is used, and in many localities truck growing is 
becoming an important industry. 



1 



AGRICULTURAL GEOGRAPHY OF TENNESSEE 51 

The Central Basin is a rich hmestone area, and is 
considered the best large agricultural region in Ten- 
nessee. There is an extensive live stock industry, and 
diversified farming is commonly practiced. Fruit, 
truck crops, grain, and forage crops all succeed in the 
Central Basin of Middle Tennessee. 

West Tennessee. — West Tennessee is a rolling coun- 
try, with no high hills or mountains. The soils are 
chiefly silt loams and are naturally fertile, but have 
suffered greatly from continuous cropping and con- 
sequent washing. A great variety of crops can be 
grown in West Tennessee. Cotton is the principal 
crop, but truck-growing is increasing rapidly in this 
section of the state. Stock raising, which should be 
profitable, is neglected. Along the Mississippi river 
are very rich alluvial soils of the greatest fertility, 
where heavy crops of cotton and corn are produced. 

Summary. — From this survey we see that Tennes- 
see is greatly favored in its location. King Cotton and 
King Corn both flourish in Tennessee. The state has 
splendid herds of dairy and beef cattle, and sheep and 
hogs of the best breeds are found on many farms. But 
the average farm in Tennessee is not so good as it 
ought to be. In some states the farming is better than 
in ours. The farms of Tennessee ought to be equal to 
the best in the United States. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE SOIL AND THE CROP 

Lack of Plant Food in Soil. — As suggested in the 
last chapter, the crop will usually tell the farmer by 
its appearance the kind of food it most needs. How- 
ever, the only way by which he can find this out for 
a certainty is by making careful experiments with the 
three essential fertilizers. Good, fertile, well-drained 
soil, properly cultivated, usually produces healthy, dark 
green plants with strong, good-sized stalks and numer- 
ous well-filled seeds. 

Nitrogen. — Now, the growth of the stalk and foli- 
age of the plant is largely due to the nitrogen in the 
soil, provided, of course, that the drainage is good and 
other conditions of heat, light, air and moisture are 
favorable. If the plant has a yellow and sickly appear- 
ance and, with proper cultivation, refuses to grow, it 
is likely starving for want of nitrogen. What should 
the farmer do? 

The Best Fertilizer. — Barnyard manure is an almost 
perfect fertilizer; that is, it has the right amounts of 
nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash in it in a form 
readily obtainable by the plant. A plentiful application 
of barnyard manure will improve the next crop, and is 
the best remedy for yellow and sickly plants. 



THE SOIL AND THE CROP S3 

Plants as Fertilizers. — In the next place, clover, 
alfalfa, peas and like plants which bear their seeds in 
pods may grow well on this kind of soil, because they 
have the power of using the nitrogen of the air in a 
way that will be explained later. These plants store 
up the nitrogen that they take from the air, and if they 
are plowed under when full grown they add this store 
of nitrogen to the soil, besides forming an excellent 
soil mulch. While generally not so good as barnyard 
manure, clover is an excellent means of restoring nitro- 
gen to the soil. In some cases it does more for the 
soil than barnyard manure can, and it is easier of 
application. When red clover does not grow well 
other legumes, such as crimson clover, hairy vetch, 
cowpeas or soy beans are of great value both as forage 
crops and as sources of nitrogen to the soil. 

Commercial Fertilizers. — Another method consists 
of applying commercial fertilizers containing nitrogen 
directly to the soil. The principal nitrogen fertilizers 
are cotton seed meal and nitrate of soda (salt petre). 
Others commonly used are dried blood and tankage, 
refuse from slaughterhouses. 

Nitrate of Soda as a Fertilizer. — Nitrate of soda is 
the quickest acting of all fertilizers. Used as a top 
dressing on grass in the spring it induces rapid growth 
and gives a deep green healthy color. Truck growers 
use it extensively to start cabbage and other leaf crops 
into vigorous growth. It is very soluble, and if sown 
around the young plants it quickly disappears, dis- 
solving in the soil-moisture where it is at once avail- 



54 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

able as food for the plants. It is rich in nitrogen 
(i6% is pure nitrogen) and should be used sparingly; 
200 lbs. per acre is a heavy application. 

Cotton Seed Meal as a Fertiliser. — Cotton seed meal 
is much cheaper than nitrate of soda, but it is also 
much slower in dissolving, and contains less than one- 
half as much nitrogen. As the nitrogen fertilizers are 
most used in the earlier stages of plant growth, it is 
best to drill in, or plow in, the cotton seed meal a few 
weeks in advance of seeding, so that it may partially 
decay, and thus make its nitrogen available by the 
time the young plant needs it most. It can be used 
much more freely than nitrate of soda. From 600 to 
800 lbs. per acre is not an excessive amount to use 
for garden crops. 

Other Nitrogenous Fertilizers. — Of the other ni- 
trogenous fertilizers mentioned, dried blood is richer 
in nitrogen (9 to 13%) and quicker in its effect on 
plant growth than tankage, which contains from 5.7 to 
7.6% of nitrogen, but tankage is also valuable as a 
source of phosphoric acid. 

Phosphoric Acid. — A shortage of phosphoric acid 
in the soil is usually shown by small, undeveloped and 
shrunken seeds. The grain does not "fill well," as the 
farmer says. The ground has been carefully prepared, 
tilled and drained. What is he to do? Nothing is 
simpler. Apply phosphoric acid fertilizers to the soil. 
Here, again, barnyard manure, because it is a nearly 
perfect fertilizer, is one of the best and most easily 
obtainable for the purpose. Ground bones, either 



THE SOIL AND THE CROP 



55 



steamed or raw, and phosphate are commercial fer- 
tihzers which furnish this food to the plant. 

Phosphoric Acid. — There are great deposits of phos- 
phate rock in middle Tennessee, and it has been 
largely mined for the manufacture of acid phosphate. 



"'*■-',-' ; , - • ' 


^^;-^.^^\:##^* ,i;a'' :^^ ^';' .^.:^?^^ ■-: V;:: ■• - 



IRISH POTATOES. 
3 bu. salable per acre. 11.6 bu. culls per acre. 

No fertilizer. 




48.8 bu. salable per acre. 14.5 bu. culls per acre. 

The same soil fertilized with 500 lbs. of complete fertilizer per acre. 
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE. 

The rock is ground fine and is then treated with sul- 
phuric arid, which makes a soluble. As with nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid is largely used in the early stages of 
plant growth. Wheat takes up four-fifths of its phos- 
phoric acid in the first half of the growing period. 



S6 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

Deep plowing and thorough cultivation aid in making 
the phosphates in soils soluble, and thus available for 
plant food. Other sources of phosphoric acid are 
basic slag or odoHess phosphate and ground raw 
phosphate rock. 

On soils in need of this element 200 lbs. per acre of 
acid phosphate (14 — 16%) is an average application. 

Source of Potash. — Potash is especially essential to 
the production of fruits, potatoes, and root crops. In 
most cases, when other conditions are perfect, under- 
sized, shriveled, and imperfect fruits and roots are 
due to a lack of potash. Here again barnyard manure 
is the usual remedy. Wood ashes are especially valua- 
ble because of the potash which they contain. They 
should never be wasted, but saved and put on the land. 

Potash Fertilizers. — The principal potash fertilizers 
are muriate of potash and sulphate of potash. They 
contain about 50% of available potash, and are seldom 
applied in excess of 100 lbs. per acre. In general 
Tennessee soils are more likely to be deficient in nitro- 
gen and phosphoric acid than in potash. 

Chemical Effect of Commercial Fertilizers on Soil. 
— There is still another use to which commercial fer- 
tilizers, like lime and land plaster, are put. They are 
used not so much because they are themselves plant 
foods, but because of the chemical effect which they 
have upon the soil. Your attention has already been 
called to the fact that plants sometimes starve with an 
abundance of food near at hand, but in a form in 
which they cannot use it for food — locked up, as it 



THE SOIL AND THE CROP 57 

were, like bread and butter in a pantry. If a boy were 
starving because his food was ''locked up" he would 
want the key. No boy will die of starvation with a 
well-filled cupboard, unlocked, in the house. Neither 
will plants starve when suitable food is obtainable. 
Now, lime and land plaster are two keys that unlock 
other plant foods in the soil and change them into a 
form in which the plants can use them. 

The Need of Lime in Tennessee Soils. — Probably 
no fertilizer is more generally needed in Tennessee 
soils than lime. This is particularly true of the soils 
of the Cumberland Plateau and the Highland Rim, 
but everywhere the effect of liming the land is likely 
to be beneficial. 

Green Manures and Commercial Fertilizers. — In 
East Tennessee, where wheat is grown extensively, 
and in many other sections of the state, com- 
mercial fertilizers have long been used. Many crops 
require clean culture and as a rule few animals are 
kept, so there is little or no manure for the fields. As 
nothing is put into the soil for making humus, the 
land gradually changes texture, becoming more and 
more troublesome to handle, and, in spite of fertilizers, 
it becomes less productive. Wherever fertilizers are 
used a heavy growth of some kind should be plowed 
under every year. Plants so used are called green 
manures, and their purpose is to add humus to the 
soil. Just before harvesting corn or cotton, the field 
should be sown broadcast to crimson clover, or vetch 
and winter oats, or rye — any crop that will cover the 



58 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

ground through the winter, protecting it from the 
compacting rains. This crop should be plowed into 
the soil in the spring. 

Green manures are in themselves good food for 
plants, but their best service is that they make com- 
mercial fertilizers more available and improve the 
structure of the soil. 

Summary. — To sum up what has already been said: 
Barnyard manure is called a perfect fertilizer because 
it contains all the elements that become exhausted from 
the soil, namely : nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. 
It is usually easy to get, and for these reasons is 
generally recommended. Clover, plowed under, will 
restore nitrogen to the soil because it has power to 
take nitrogen from the air, a power which few other 
plants have. Wood ashes are rich in potash and should 
never be wasted, but sown on the soil. Commercial 
fertilizers, containing what the soil especially needs, 
may be bought and applied. When they are wisely 
applied the profit from their use may be large. The 
subject of fertilizers and fertilization is a large and 
very important one to the farmer. It needs much 
thought and careful study, and is only touched upon 
here in the briefest possible manner. The problems 
which follow will help to emphasize the points made 
in this chapter. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

No. 169. — Soil Investigations in the United States. 

Free Bulletins, Tennessee Experiment Station. 

Number 86, Experiments with Soils, Fertilizers and Farm 
Crops. 



THE SOIL AND THE CROP 59 

Table V. 

Showing average amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and 
potash in fertilizers: 

POUNDS PER TON. 

Phosphoric 

Substance. Nitrogen. Acid. Potash. 

Clover hay 40 lbs. 10 lbs. 40 lbs. 

Straw 10 lbs. 4 lbs. 20 lbs. 

Barnyard manure 10 lbs. 6 lbs. 9 lbs. 

Wood ashes 60 lbs. 160 lbs. 

Burned bones 500 lbs. 

Ground bones 400 lbs. 

Problems. 

1. Suppose a load of barnyard manure weighs a 
ton. How many pounds of nitrogen in it? Of phos- 
phoric acid? Of potash? 

2. How much of each of the above in 15 loads? 
20 loads? 50 loads? 

3. How many loads of manure were hauled onto 
your land last year? Hqw much of each fertilizing 
substance was supplied ? 

4. If you put 15 loads on an acre, how much of 
each fertilizing substance per acre? 

5. Suppose you harvested 50 bu. of corn per acre. 
How much of each fertilizing substance did you take 
off with the crop? 

6. Was your soil richer or poorer after the corn 
was harvested? Did you take off more than you put 
on? How much of each kind? 

7. How much of each of these fertilizing sub- 
stances is taken off with a 25 bu. crop per acre of 
wheat? A 40 bu. crop of barley? 



6o ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

8. How many loads of manure per acre are neces- 
sary to restore the fertility lost when a 25 bu. per acre 
wheat crop is harvested? 

9. If $5 per acre spent in fertilizer increases the 
yield of potatoes 50 bu. net. Find the gain per acre by 
fertilizing. 

10. A farmer who uses fertilizer costing $6 an acre 
grows 560 lbs. of cotton per acre; one who uses no 
fertilizer grows 350 lbs. per acre. At the present mar- 
ket price of cotton which plan is the more profitable? 
How much is gained on 80 acres? 

11. Pupils will furnish data for similar problems. 



CHAPTER VIII 



WEARING OUT THE SOIL 



Soil Exhaustion. — From what we learned in the last 
chapter, it is easily seen that the farmer who raises 
grain and tobacco to sell, and who returns nothing to 
the land in the form of fertilizers, is literally ''selling 
his farm." He sells soil in small quantities, it is true, 
but he sells it nevertheless. There can be but one re- 
sult from this kind of farming. No matter how rich 
the soil, sooner or later it will wear out. The poorer 
the land the sooner will its fertility become exhausted. 

Over-Cropping Land. — In the early history of Wis- 
consin much wheat was grown, the land in many cases 
yielding as high as forty bushels per acre. But the 
yield rapidly decreased until no more than ten or fif- 
teen bushels could be grown. The farmers gave up 
selling wheat, and the wheat belt moved on to the 
west. Why was this? Simply because wheat, a heavy 
feeder as shown by the tables, wore out the soil. No 
fertilizers were returned to take the place of the soil 
matter taken off with the wdieat, and in a few years the 
wheat crop starved out. 



62 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

Cotton Cropping in Tennessee. — In many parts of 
Tennessee the cotton crop has worn out the soil. If 
the farmer would sell only the lint, and feed the cot- 
ton seed, or meal made from the seed, to live stock, and 
return the manure from the animals to his fields, he 
would scarcely reduce the fertility of his land at all ; 
for the cotton fibre contains practically no nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid, or potash. It is composed principally 
of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and these elements 
the plant gets from the air and from water. The ele- 
ments taken from the soil are stored principally in the 
cotton seed. (See Table III.) 

In all parts of Tennessee, except such bottom lands 
as occasionally overflow, continuous cropping with 
corn is as injurious to the soil as has been wheat crop- 
ping in Wisconsin, What is true of wheat and cotton 
and corn is equally true of every other crop in the 
proportion in which it uses up in its growth nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid, and potash. 

Hozu Fertility May Be Retained. — Progressive 
farmers have learned that grain farming does not pay, 
and they have gone into dairying and have prospered. 
Why is dairy farming so much better? Because the 
grain and hay raised on the farm are fed there and 
returned again to the soil in the form of barnyard 
manure. Very little soil matter is sold from the farm. 
The proportion of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash 
in butter, cheese, beef and pork is very small for the 
amount of feed consumed, as the table following this 



WEARING OUT THE SOIL 



63 



chapter will show. It will take a long time to lessen 
to any great extent the amount of these substances in 
the soil by dairy farming. 

Clover Enriches the Soil. — Again, the dairy farmer 
raises much clover, cowpeas and soy beans, and these, 




Tubercles on the Roots of the 
Cow Pea in which Nitrogen 
from the Air is Stored Up. 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. 



as you have already seen, really enrich the soil by 
adding to it nitrogen from the air. 

Summary. — The wise farmer wastes nothing. If he 
raises peas and corn for the canning factory, he hauls 
the vines and stalks back to his farm. If he grows 



46 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

beets for the sugar factory, he has the pulp returned to 
his land. He sells neither hay nor grain, but feeds it 
on his farm. He saves all manure and carefully 
returns it to the soil. 

Experimental Study of Soil Treatment. 

1. Fill one soil tube with dry sand. Take some 
very dry clover hay and pulverize it very fine with the 
hands, throwing out all coarse material. Mix this pul- 
verized hay with about twice its volume of sand, and 
fill another soil tube with the mixture. Now pour 
water into the top of each tube and see which holds it 
the better. What are the effects upon a sandy soil of 
plowing under clover ? 

2. Make a "mud pie" of clay and set it in the sun to 
bake. Make another mixture of clay and pulverized 
clover hay, and set this beside the first one. When 
both pies are baked, see which can be more easily 
broken up. What are the effects upon a clay soil of 
plowing under clover ? 

3. Take two samples of clay — one very wet, the 
other only slightly moist — and place them in the sun 
to dry. Which makes the harder cake ? In what con- 
dition, as to moisture, should clay soil be when plowed? 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

Farmers* Bulletins. 

No. 44. — Commercial Fertilizers : Composition and Use. 
No. "jy. — The Liming of Soils. 
No. 192. — Barnyard Manure. 



WEARING OUT THE SOIL 47 

Table VI. 
Table showing fertilizing substances in dairy products: 

OUNCES PER 100 POUNDS. 

Phosphoric 

Nitrogen. Acid. Potash. 

Cheese 63 oz. 10 oz. 2 oz. 

Milk 8 oz. 3 oz. 3 oz. 

Butter 2 oz. 3-5 oz. ^ oz. 

Table VII. 
Table showing fertilizing substances in farm animals: 

OUNCES PER 100 POUNDS. 

iPhosphoric 

Nitrogen. Acid. Potash. 

Cattle 40 oz. 29 oz. 3 oz. 

Sheep 35 oz. 19 oz. 3 oz. 

Hogs 32 oz. 130 oz. 2^ oz. 

Problems. 

1. How much nitrogen is sold from the farm with 
every ton of butter? How much phosphoric acid? 
How much potash ? 

2. How many pounds of these three substances 
are sold with every ton of cheese ? 

3. How many pounds of each are sold with 100 
lbs. of butter? With 100 lbs. of cheese? Which is 
harder on the soil? 

4. How much of each of these fertilizing sub- 
stances in a 300 lb. pig? 

5. How much of each of these fertilizing sub- 
stances in a 1,200 lb. steer? 

6. A farmer sells 20 hogs, each weighing 225 lbs. 



48 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

How many pounds of each kind of fertilizing sub- 
stance does he sell ? 

7. Suppose he sells 6 head of cattle weighing 1,050 
lbs. each. How much of each of these three sub- 
stances does he sell ? 

8. How much butter did you (each family repre- 
sented in the class) sell last year? How much of each 
of these three fertilizing substances did you sell with 
the butter? Did it wear out the farm much? About 
how many loads of manure will it take to replace 
them? (Suppose a load of manure weighs a ton.) 

9. How many hogs did you sell last year? About 
how much did they weigh? How much phosphoric 
acid went with them? How much nitrogen? How 
much potash ? 

10. Did you sell any wheat? Any other grain? 
If so, how much? How much of your farm went 
with it? 

11. Pupils will furnish data for other similar prob- 
lems. 



CHAPTER VII 



LEGUMES 



Restoring Nitrogen to the Soil. — From a study of 
the table on fertilizing substances in different soils, 
and a comparison of this table with the one on fer- 
tilizing substances in farm crops, it will be seen that 
nitrogen is the element which, from ordinary soils 
and under ordinary conditions of farming, is likely 
to be the soonest exhausted. Ordinarily, then, the 
farmer's attention should be turned to methods of 
restoring nitrogen. If a sufficient quantity of manure 
were produced on the farm, of course the best method 
of fertilizing would be to apply barnyard manure to 
the soil, as it not only contains nitrogen, but also phos- 
phoric acid and potash, the other needed elements. 
But it is not always possible to do this. There is a 
class of plants, however, called legumes, that have the 
power to add nitrogen to the soil. Peas, beans, clover, 
alfalfa, cowpeas, and soja beans belong to this class. 
It is the purpose of this chapter to explain the manner 
in which these plants add nitrogen to the soil. 

Composition of Air. — The air that we breathe is 
composed largely of two gases — oxygen and nitrogen. 



50 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

Both are colorless, odorless and invisible. About one- 
fifth of the air is oxygen and the other four-fifths 
nitrogen. Oxygen is a very active element, combining 
readily with other substances. It is the oxygen that 
causes iron to rust, coal to burn, or wood to decay. If 
the air were pure oxygen, any fire once started could 
never be put out, and even our bodies would take fire 
and burn. 

Nature of Nitrogen. — On the other hand, nitrogen 
is a very inactive element and does not combine readily 
with other substances. Its presence in the air dilutes 
the oxygen and makes it less active. It is well known 
that tea can be made so strong that no person can 
drink it. It may be readily diluted and its strength 
greatly lessened, however, by the addition of water. It 
is much the same way with oxygen. It is so active that 
it must be mixed with nitrogen before it can be used by 
man and animals. It is mixed in the air, there being, 
as has been said, about four times as much nitrogen as 
oxygen in it. Farm crops cannot use this *'free" nitro- 
gen in the air. 

The Use of Bacteria. — There are, however, little 
plant-like germs, called bacteria, which live in the soil, 
that can and do feed upon this free nitrogen in the air. 
These germs are a kind of parasite and are usually 
found associated with the legumes, i. e., with peas, 
beans, clover and the like. They fasten themselves to 
the roots of these plants and build their homes there. 
Their little ''nests" look like tiny potatoes and are 
called tubercles. They are about as large as pinheads 



LEGUMES 



51 




CLOVER AND ALFALFA ROOTS SHOWING TUBERCLES. 



and are to be found adhering to the roots of clover, 
beans and peas. Pull up a bunch of thrifty clover, or 
any other legume, and examine its roots for these 
tubercles. A peculiar thing about these germs is that 



-^2 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

No. 89. — Cowpeas. 

No. 194.— Alfalfa Seed. 

No. 214. — Beiicticial Bacteria for Leguminous Crops. 

No. 215. — Alfalfa Growing. 

Free Bulletins, Tennessee Experiment Station. 

Vol. XVIII, No. 1.— Alsike Clover. 

No. 75. — Selection for Disease-Resistant Clover. 

No. 82. — The Soy Bean ; a Comparison with the Cowpea. 

Problems. 

1. How does clover compare with other kinds of 
hay in the amount of nitrogen it contains ? Phosphoric 
acid ? Potash ? 

2. If two tons of hay per acre is an average yield, 
how much of each fertilizer is removed yearly with 
the crop from 8 acres of ground? 

3. Which kind of hay makes the richest manure? 
Why? 

4. How much more of nitrogen in a crop of 25 
acres of clover hay, yielding 3 tons per acre, than in 
the same number of acres of mixed hay yielding 2 
tons per acre? Where does this extra nitrogen come 
from ? 

5. How many tons of each kind of hay did you 
raise on the farm last year? 

6. How many tons of hay did you sell last year? 
How many pounds of each of the three important 
kinds of ''soil fertility" did you sell? How many 
pounds altogether? 

7. Pupils will furnish data for similar problems. 



CHAPTER VIII 



TILLING THE SOIL 



Tillage. — Tillage stands next in importance to fer- 
tilization, and with many soils it is even more impor- 
tant. Tillage is here meant to include both the prep- 
aration of the soil before planting and, with the crops 
that admit of it, the cultivation of the crop after it is 
planted. 

Effect on Roots. — As we have learned, the plant is 
fed by its roots that penetrate the soil in every direc- 
tion. These feeding roots are very small and work 
their way between the soil particles, gathering up the 
dissolved food and passing it into the plant. If the 
soil is coarse and lumpy these little rootlets cannot get 
at the food locked up in the lumps, but can feed only 
upon their surface. Proper preparation of the soil 
will break up these lumps, pulverize them, and allow 
the roots of the plants to get at the food matter which 
they contain. Again, water cannot easily dissolve 
plant foods in lumpy ground. Stirring the soil will 
hasten the solution of this food matter. These facts 
may be easily shown by experiment. 

How Solids Dissolve. — Throw a handful of fine salt 



56 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

into a tumbler of water. Into another tumbler put a 
lump of salt or a piece of rock salt about the same 
size. Which dissolves the sooner? Stir both and note 
the effect of stirring. Does stirring hasten solution? 
Now put the same amount of fine salt in each of two 
glasses. Stir one, but do not disturb the other. 

The Effect of Stirring Soil. — You have noticed, in 
the above experiments, that lumpy salt dissolves much 
more slowly than fine salt, and that stirring always 
hastens solution. It is just so with plant foods con- 
tained in the soil. Lumpy soil holds the plant foods 
so that the plant cannot get them, and cultivation 
has the same effect upon them that stirring has upon 
the salt in the water. It causes them to dissolve or in 
some way makes them accessible. The plant cannot 
use these foods until they are in the right condition, so 
that excellent preparation of the soil before planting, 
and constant cultivation of it after planting, both tend 
to increase the supply of plant food as well as to 
hasten the growth of plants. 

Deep Cultivation Best. — The depth to which soils 
should be cultivated depends in a large degree upon 
the depth to which the plant roots will penetrate. The 
grains are shallow-rooted and do not need so deep 
cultivation as do corn and root crops. The farmer is 
not likely to plow too deep for any crop, however. 
Deep plowing brings to the surface plant foods that 
have never been reached by shallow cultivation, and it 
pulverizes the soil so that the roots can penetrate it to 
a great depth and have more soil to feed upon. 



TILLING THE SOIL 



'Til 



Deep Plowing for Root Crops. — For root crops the 
ground must be plowed deep and be very carefully 
pulverized. There are two reasons for this. In the 
first place, poorly pulverized soil spoils the shape of 




THE RESULT OF CAREFUL CULTIVATION. 
This tomato plant attained tlie height of eleven feet, six inches and 
bore one hundred one perfectly formed tomatoes. 



roots like beets and parsnips. They cannot grow 
equally in all directions, and become crooked, split, and 
misshapen because of the hindrance of lumps to their 
growth. In the second place, if they cannot penetrate 
the soil easily, when they strike the hard soil below, 



58 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

they will be raised out of the ground as they increase 
in length. All that has been said about cultivation of 
plants applies with special force to root crops. 

How Water Rises in Soil. — Another important 
reason for cultivation is to be found in the fact that 
cultivated soils do not dry out so rapidly during a 
drought. This seems strange at first, but it is never- 
theless tri.e, and the reason is easily seen. There 
are two kinds of water in the ground — capillary water 
and ''free," underground, water. Underground water 
flows along beneath the surface and sometimes comes 
out again in the form of springs. It is this water 
that supplies our wells. But it is the capillary water, 
and not the "free" water, that is used by the plants. 
A simple illustration will make clear what capillary 
water is. You have, no doubt, observed how oil rises 
in the lamp-wick. The oil in the wick is moving 
upward and may be called "capillary" oil, while that 
in the lamp is "free." The oil in the wick corre- 
sponds to the capillary water in the soil, while that 
in the lamp corresponds to the underground water. 
Another illustration : At the breakfast table take a 
spoonful of sugar and just touch the tip of the spoon 
to the surface of the coffee in your cup, and notice 
how the coffee creeps up into the sugar. It is in 
exactly the same way that the underground water 
creeps upward in the soil and becomes capillary water. 
Still another illustration : Fill a pan half full of 
water ; set it on a table and throw a rag over the edge 
so that one end will dip into the water and the other 



TILLING THE SOIL 



59 



end will lie on the table. In a little while the water 
will be running from the pan out upon the table. In 
other words, it runs ''up-hill," through the cloth, over 
the edge of the pan, and "down-hill" through the 
cloth to the table. The water that runs up-hill is 
capillary water, while that in the pan is free water. 
The capillary water is being continually supplied from 
the free water in the pan below. Let us remember that 




A WELL CULTIVATED CORN FIELD. 



it is the capillary water which the plant uses and which 
is also evaporating from the soil. 

Cultivation Retards Evaporation. — We know that if 
we cover up a kettle it keeps the water from evaporat- 
ing, ''boiling away," as we say. In the same way a 
blanket, spread over the soil, will check the evapora- 



6o ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

tion of this capillary water. The simplest way to get 
this blanket spread over the soil is to cultivate it. The 
layer of cultivated soil dries out very rapidly, but it 
prevents the air from getting at the moist soil under- 
neath, and thus keeps it from drying out. It acts as a 
sort of dry blanket to prevent the evaporation of mois- 
ture. 

Summary. — There are three chief reasons for till- 
ing the soil: (i) To pulverize it, making it easy 
for the plant roots to penetrate it in every direction 
and to get at the store of food it contains. (2) To stir 
it and thus hasten the solution of plant food as well as 
to destroy weeds that rob the plants of their food. 
(3) To form a soil mulch, a sort of "dry blanket," 
which will prevent rapid evaporation of the capillary 
water from the soil. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

No. 306. — Some Soil Problems for Practical Farmers. 

Problems. 

1. How many square feet in one square yard? In 
one acre? 

2. If soil is cultivated to the depth of 4 in., how 
many cubic feet of cultivated soil per acre? How 
many, if cultivated to the depth of 6 in.? If culti- 
vated to the depth of 8 in. ? 

3. How much more plant food is made available 
with cultivation to the depth of 8 in. than with a 4 in. 
depth of cultivation? 



TILLING THE SOIL 6i 

4. How many times as much available plant food 
in soil cultivated to the depth of 6 in. as in soil culti- 
vated only 4 in. deep ? 

5. If a man and team can plow ij4 acres 6 in. 
deep, or 2 acres 4 in. deep, in a day, how much more 
does it cost per acre to plow land 6 in. deep than to 
plow it only 4 in. deep? Labor worth $2.40 per day. 

6. If a man and team can till 3 acres thoroughly 
in a day, or 5 acres in a careless manner, how much 
more per acre does a good job cost, labor being worth 
$2.40 per day? 

7. How much more per acre does it cost to both 
plow and till well? How many additional bushels of 
oats worth $0.36 per bu. will it take to pay for the 
additional labor? 

8. How much will be the gain if but 40 bu. of oats 
can be raised with shallow plowing and careless seed- 
ing, and 57 bu. with the extra work? How much will 
these oats be worth at 24 cents per bu. ? At $0.30 per 
bu. ? At the present price of oats ? 

9. A certain piece of land yields 35 bu. of corn 
per acre. By careful cultivation the farmer is able to 
increase this yield to 60 bu. With corn worth $0.40 
per bu. how many additional days' labor at $1 per day 
will the extra yield pay for? 

10. If he spends but 20 days' extra time on his 
i2-acre field of corn to produce the increase in crop 
shown in problem 9, how much does he get per day for 
his extra time? 

11. Suppose a farmer is able to double the average 



62 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

yield of i6o bii. of potatoes from an acre of land by 
putting 15 days' extra time on it. What wages does 
he get with potatoes at $0.25 per bu. ? 

12. From answers to the following questions make 
other problems similar to the above. What does labor 
cost per day? How many acres can a man plow per 
day? How many acres can he seed in a day? How 
many acres of corn can he cultivate ? Will extra labor 
increase the yield of corn? etc., etc. 



CHAPTER IX 



DRAINING THE SOIL 



Underground Water. — As was stated in the last 
chapter, the plant makes use of the capillary water in 
the soil, and this capillary water is being continually 
supplied from the free water in the ground below. 
There is a level to this underground water, just the 
same as there is a level to the water in a pond. On 
low, flat land this level is usually near the surface. It is 
at or above the surface on swampy ground, and usually 
many feet below the surface in high places. Ordinarily, 
high ground needs little attention so far as drainage is 
concerned, as the water which falls upon it either soaks 
in or runs rapidly off as surface water. 

Water Level Must Be Below Surface of Soil. — 
Low ground, however, does need attention. Plants 
cannot grow without air, and much water in the soil 
keeps out the air. The level of the underground water 
must therefore be below the depth to which the roots 
of the crop ordinarily penetrate the soil. In other 
words, a crop will not do well on a field where the free 
water level is too near the surface. You have all seen 
crops "drowned out," as the farmer says. If you dig 



64 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



a post-hole in such soil it will soon fill with water to 
within a foot or so from the top. The level of the 
water in this hole will be the free water level, and if 
it comes very near the surface no crop can be expected 
to do well there. 

Wet Soils Arc Cold Soils. — In wet soils a large 




A PIECE OF MARSHY LAND BEFORE IT WAS DRAINED. 



amount of heat is used in evaporating part of the 
water, and so much is required to raise the tempera- 
ture of what remains that these soils never become 
warm. Often such soils are sour, and cannot become 
sweet until the water is drained off and the heat and 
air let in. Sometimes it is even necessary to sow lime 



DRAINING THE SOIL 



65 



on these soils, after the water has been drained off, in 
order to sweeten them. 

Drainage. — What is the farmer to do with low, wet 
ground ? Evidently there is but one thing- to do — drain 
off the water. There are two methods of draining this 
water off, the open ditch and the tile drain. To begin 




THE SAME FIELD AFTER BEING TILE DRAINED. 



with, the land may be so low and flat that no kind of 
drainage is possible. This, of course, may be deter- 
mined by noting the level of the water in the nearest 
stream. If it is within a foot or two of the surface of 
the land and overflows with every heavy rain, easy 
drainage is impossible. But if the surface of the soil is 



66 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE. 

a few feet above the level of the stream, the land can be 
easily drained. 

Tiling. — It is conceded that the tile system of drain- 
age is better than the open ditch, though it requires 
more labor and expense. The tiles should be placed 
about three feet below the surface, so that the ground 
water level will be lowered to this point and the ground 
cultivated without interfering with the tiles. The size 
of the tiles to be used, and the distance apart which 
they should be placed, depends upon the slope and the 
character of the soil. An experienced drainage engi- 
neer should have charge of the work. 

Open Ditches. — Open ditches may prove quite as 
effectual in draining the land, if they be deep enough 
and not too far apart. Of course they must be kept 
cleaned out. The ofreatest obiection to open ditches is 
that they cut up the land and thus interfere with culti- 
vation. They can best be used in draining out sloughs 
and narrow, swampy places. Many acres of low land, 
now uncultivated, might be made very productive if 
properly drained. 

Fanners' Bulletins. 

No. 40. — Farm Drainage. 

No. 187. — Drainage of Farm Lands. 

Table VIII. 

Table showing average cost of drainage tile in large quan- 
tities: 

3 in. tile cost about 3c each. 

4 in. tile cost about 4c each. 

5 in. tile cost about 5c each. 

6 in. tile cost about 6c each. 
All sizes are 12 inches in length. 



DRAINING THE SOIL 67 

Prolblems. 

1. A farmer owns a plat of low ground 80 rods 
long and 50 rods wide ; how many acres in this plat ? 

2. A creek runs lengthwise through this land. The 
level of the water in the creek is 4 feet below the level 
of the land. Can it be drained? 

3. Will the creek answer as a channel to carry off 
the water from the tiles? 

4. Suppose he puts the tiles crosswise of the field, 
4 rods apart, so that they open into the creek. How 
many rods of tiling will it take? How many feet? 
How many 4 in. tiles? 

5. What will be the cost of these tiles according to 
the above table ? 

6. What will it cost to dig the ditches and lay the 
tiles at 20 cents per rod ? 

7. What will be the entire cost if 4 in. tiles are 
used ? 3 in. ? 6 in. ? 

8. What will be the cost per acre for each kind of 
tile? 

9. Suppose open ditches costing twenty cents per 
rod will answer. How much more will the tile svstem 
cost than the open ditches ? 

10. If the farmer is able to grow only i^ tons of 
marsh hay worth $4 per ton on this land before drain- 
ing and can grow 60 bu. of corn worth $0.35 per bu. 
after draining, what is the increase in the value of the 
crop due to drainage ? 

11. In how many years will this increase alone pay 



68 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

for the open ditch? For the 4 in. tile system? For 
the 6 in. tile system? 

12. Suppose the open ditch costs 5 cents per rod 
annually for repairs. In how many years will the open 
ditch cost as much as the tile drain? 

13. If the above is a true example of the cost and 
value of drainage, does it pay ? 

14. What would it cost to dig an open ditch on 
each side of a slough 10 rods wide and 100 rods long 
at $0.25 per rod? 

15. Is there a place on your farm that needs drain- 
ing? Measure it. Draw a plan for ditches and esti- 
mate the cost of both systems. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE CROP 

Effect of Unzvisc Cropping. — Every farmer desires 
to be prosperous. He tries to raise those crops which 
will give him the largest returns in money; but often, 
in his anxiety to do this, he takes too little heed for 
the future. He reasons thus : "If tobacco is a high 
price and my soil will raise good tobacco, then tobacco 
is the crop for me to raise." So, year after year, he 
plants tobacco, until he finds that his soil will no longer 
raise a good crop of tobacco or anything else. Plainly, 
he has made a great mistake. What is the matter? 

Tobacco Exhausts the Soil. — The explanation is not 
hard to find. Tobacco is very hard on the soil, as you 
will readily see by consulting the table showing the 
amount of fertilizing substances in farm crops. Be- 
sides, tobacco requires the same kind of food, year 
after year, and unless the farmer has made a careful 
study of this crop, and of the fertilizers needed for its 
proper growth, his soil soon becomes exhausted of 
some of its fertilizing substances. The same is true 
of cotton, or corn, or any other crop, grown year after 
year on the same piece of ground. So the farmer 
needs to consider not only the immediate returns — 



88 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

that is, the amount of money he will get from his crop 
this year — but the effect that the crop will have upon 
the soil. 

Washing of the Soil. — Throughout the south, and 
in many northern localities also, there is a great deal 
of rain during the winter months, when the fields are 
left bare, or with only the dead stalks of the preceding 
crop. These winter rains cause great loss to the 
farmer by washing the soil. Gullies form on all slop- 
ing lands, and, if neglected, in a few years a fertile 
field may be completely ruined. 

Cover Crops. — The careful farmer will endeavor to 
keep lands that w^ash badly in grass as much as pos- 
sible, and when such lands are cropped, the rows will 
follow the contour of the land, and thus check the for- 
mation of gullies. But the principal damage is done 
in winter, when the fields are not cultivated. One of 
the best means of preventing erosion is to plant a crop 
in the fall that will cover the ground thickly before 
freezing weather, and thus not only hold the soil by 
the binding effect of its roots, but prevent its being 
packed by the rain. Such crops are called ''cover 
crops." 

Rye, wheat, winter oats, and crimson clover are 
good cover crops and all of them can be harvested in 
time to permit the growing of soy beans, cowpeas, or 
a late corn crop. Vetch alone is less useful as a cover 
crop because it does not make growth enough before 
freezing weather to protect the soil, but when mixed 
with either rye or winter oats is greatly improves these 



THE CROP 89 

crops for hay, or for plowing in. Crimson clover is 
especially valuable, if planted early, as it makes a good 
cover and enriches the soil in nitrogen w^hen plowed 
under. 

Crop Rotation. — Good farmers have devised a plan, 
known as ''crop rotation," whereby they are able to 
secure the greatest possible returns from the farm with 
the least possible loss to the soil. This plan consists 
in growing one kind of crop on a certain piece of 
ground this year, another kind of crop requiring dif- 
ferent food materials and soil treatment next year, still 
another the year following, and so on, the different 
crops following each other in succession, and at regular 
intervals. The whole farm is divided into fields of as 
nearly equal area as possible, and the crop which was 
grown in field No. i the first year, occupies field No. 2 
the following year, field No. 3 the third year, and at 
the ei:d of the rotation it will have been grown in a 
different field every year. With the opening of the 
next season this crop finds itself in field No. i again. 
The other crops used in the rotation follow the first 
in regular order. 

One Plan of Crop Rotation. — The following rota- 
tion of crops is a good one for the average Tennessee 
farm. Of course there may be special reasons for 
modifying it, and others equally good will occur to the 
intelligent farmer: 

I. Corn. A cover crop of crimson clover, rye, 
oats, and vetch, etc., to be sown broadcast in the corn- 
field just before the last cultivation. 



90 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



2. Cowpeas or soy beans. 

3. Wheat. 

4. Grass and clover (2 years). 

Corn makes a heavy draft on the food supply in 
the soil, but the tillage it requires is beneficial, and if 
a cover crop is cultivated in at the last working it will 
protect the land from the winter rains and enrich the 
soil, besides affording some pasturage in late spring. 
The second 3^ear cowpeas or soy beans, both legumes, 
will prove good forage crops, and their roots will add 



.jill^-^sBfe. 'al^^'^^ ^^ui 








tM^^^^^ 


^^^^P 


,. ^-:- ^: 




mBMmSS^'^ ' ....r..^^ii#i-^^-:^3^^ 


^^^^- 



CUTTING ALFALFA— MICHIGAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. 

nitrogen to the soil. Both are good crops for freeing 
the land from weeds and so are excellent for preparing 
the field for wheat. The wheat is an exhausting crop, 
but with the wheat grass and clover is sown, and the 
field remains in meadow and pasture two or more 
years, usually until it becomes fowl with weeds. The 



THE CROP 91 

kind of grass to be used depends on the soil and the 
locaHty. If red clover does not succeed alsike can be 
substituted for it. In most soils a heavy application 
of lime v^ill benefit both w^heat and grass. When the 
grass land is broken up corn is again planted and then 
the second round of the rotation is begun. 

This rotation implies five fields, and the crops, as 
indicated here, follow one another from field to field 
around the farm. 

Results of Rotation. — During this rotation one cover 
crop has been plov^ed under, the roots and aftermath 
of a cow^peas or soy bean crop have also been plowed 
under, and a sod of grass and clover, two years old, 
has been turned into the soil. All three of these green 
manure crops have added appreciably to the food sup- 
ply for the other two crops. The wheat crop will re- 
quire a good application of a complete fertilizer, and 
corn, even when following clover, may be benefited 
by fertilizers. The forage crops — cowpeas, soy beans, 
hay and grass, and the cover crop can best be used, 
of course, by feeding to live stock on the farm. If 
this practice is regularly followed it will not be long 
until the use of commercial fertilizers can be aban- 
doned, as the manure will supply all necessary plant 
food. 

Crop Rotation and Length of Roots. — There is still 
another feature of crop rotation worthy of study here. 
It is the different depths to which the roots of various 
crops penetrate. Corn roots spread from row to row, 
and to a depth of four feet or more into the soil. Cow- 



92 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



peas and soy beans are also deep rooted plants, while 
wheat is comparatively shallow^ rooted, though all 
plants have a much greater root development than is 
generally supposed. Clover roots extend several feet 
into the subsoil, while alfalfa is probably the deepest 
rooted of any of the crop-plants. These deep rooting 
crops secure a part of their food from the lower strata 




VARIOUS ROOT SYSTEMS. 
T-Tobacco. O— Oats. Cl-Clover, B-Beets, W— Wheat. C-Corn, 
A— Alfalfa. 



of soil which the shallow rooters do not penetrate. 
When we turn under clover, then, the plant food it 
contains has in part been gathered beyond the reach 
of the corn roots, and the decay of the clover in the 
soil thus adds to the food supply of the following crop. 
Conditions Determine Kind of Rotation. — The rota- 
tion given in this chapter is only a ''sample" rotation, 
not an ''ideal" one, and is introduced here only for the 
purpose of illustration. The farmer should devise 
rotations of his own, suited to the special needs of his 
farm and to the market for his products. 



THE CROP 93 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

No. 289. — Practices in Crop Rotation. 

No. 320. — Relation of Sugar Beets to General Farming. 

Experimental Study of Root Systems. 

1. Pull or dig up full-grown stalks of oats, wheat, 
rye, barley, corn, tobacco, clover, alfalfa and other 
farm crops. Many of the roots will break off in the 
ground, but those that remain will be sufficient for 
comparison. Which of these penetrate the soil the 
deepest? Classify them in the order of length. 

2. Bring in radishes, turnips, roots of oats, corn, 
and other farm crops. Measure their length and count 
the number of small roots on each of these plants. 
Note the manner in which these roots grow. Which 
are "fleshy" and good for food? Which are unsuit- 
able for food because they are "fibrous?" 

3. Pull up peas, beans, clover and alfalfa. Exam- 
ine these roots for little tubercles, like tiny potatoes, 
the size of a pinhead, or perhaps a little larger. You 
will probably find them on all of these plants. These 
little nodules are the homes of tiny germs that feed 
upon the nitrogen of the air. The plants in turn feed 
upon this stored-up nitrogen. 

Problems. 

1. If corn is planted in rows four feet apart each 
way, how many hills to the acre? With three good 
ears to the hill, how many ears to the acre? 

2. If it takes 100 ears to make a bushel, how many 
bushels to the acre? 



94 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

3. Which is the best crop? Five stalks to the hill 
that bear ears requiring 200 to make a bushel, or 3 
stalks to the hill that bear ears requiring 100 to make 
a bushel ? 

4. How many bushels per acre' is one crop better 
than the other? 

5. Suppose a ten-acre field produces 60 bushels 
of corn per acre the first year, but falls off 5 bushels 
per acre yearly when corn is continually grown on it, 
what will be the yield the fourth year? 

6. What will be the total loss in the four years? 
With corn worth $0.30 per bushel, what is the money 
loss? 

7. Suppose this loss can be avoided by rotation of 
crops. What is saved yearly, per acre, on this basis 
from rotation of crops? 

8. What is the value of one acre of tobacco, 1,500 
lbs., at $0.08 per lb.? 

9. What is the value of one acre of oats, 60 bu., 
at $0.30 per bu. ? 

10. What is the value of one acre of clover, 3 tons, 
at $6 per ton? 

11. What is the value of one acre of corn, 50 bu., 
at $0.40 per bu. ? 

12. What is the value of one acre of peas, 20 bu., 
at $1.50 per bu. ? 

13. Pupils will furnish data for similar problems. 
Number of acres of different crops raised on the farm 
at home , yield per acre, price per bushel, ton, etc. 




Clover (and Crab Grass) with Phosphorus Only: Yield 1.05 Tons: 
Edgewood Soil Experiment Field, 1905. 

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS. 




Clover with Lime and Phosphorus: Yield 2.10 Tons: 
Experiment Field. 1905. 



Edgewood Soil 



Can You Judge How 



Much Thicker and Taller this Crop is than 
the other? 



CHAPTER XI 

INSECTS AND DISEASES THAT INJURE THE CROPS 

Insects and Plant Diseases. — The farmer may pre- 
pare the soil ever so weh, he may fertihze with the 
greatest of care, he may cultivate thoroughly, the 
weather conditions may be favorable, and yet he may 
lose all or a portion of his crop through the attacks 
of insects or the ravages of plant diseases. 

Every child has seen potato bugs at work and knows 
full well the damage they will do in a short space of 
time. If they are not destroyed the crop of potatoes 
will be. However, the farmer has learned how to fight 
this pest successfully. But there are many other in- 
sects injurious to the crop which the average farmer 
has not yet learned how to fight, and he has paid but 
little attention to plant diseases. It is not within the 
province of this book to deal with these subjects in 
detail, but there are a few general principles which may 
be laid down here, and which will prove of value in 
the war that the farmer must continually wage against 
plant diseases and insect pests. 

It is necessary for us to know something of the life 
history of the insects which we fight — when they lay 



INSECTS AND PLANT DISEASES T] 

their eggs, where they lay them, when the eggs hatch, 
and the hke. 

Parts of an Insect. — Insects are so called because 
they are ''in sections." They have a head provided 
with a pair of feelers, a pair of strong jaws or a suck- 
ing tube, a body to which are attached three pairs of 
legs, usually two pairs of wings, and an abdomen. 
The abdomen is the back portion of the body made up 
of several ring-like sections and capable of holding a 
large amount of food. They breathe through little 
holes in their sides. 




THE FOUR STAGES OF INSECT GROWTH. 

Eggs on leaf, caterpillar, chrysalis or resting stage, full grown 
insect. 

The Life of an Insect. — There are ordinarily four 
stages of insect growth — the tgg stage, the "grub" or 
caterpillar stage, the resting stage and the full grown 
insect. The iigg is laid by a full-grown insect in the 
ground, on the leaves of plants, in rotten wood, on the 
bark of trees, or even in the blossoms of plants, or in 
fruits. This egg hatches into what we usually call a 



78 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

grub or worm. The grub is a great eater and grows 
very rapidly, as those of you who have watched the 
young potato bugs grow can testify. It then hides 
itself somewhere and goes into the resting state, the 
pupa, from which it emerges a full-grown insect, 
ready to lay eggs and repeat this cycle. Some insects, 
as the potato bug, have legs in the "grub" stage, and 
others, like the grasshopper, do not go into a resting 
state at all but grow their wings as they hop about in 
search of food. 

Leaf-Eating and Sap-Sucking Insects. — For our 
convenience we will divide insects into two classes — 
one class that eats the leaves and another class the 
members of which are too small to eat leaves but large 
enough to suck the sap of plants. 

How to Destroy Insects. — Now, what can the 
farmer do if his crop is attacked by insects? If he can 
find out where these insects lay their eggs he can de- 
stroy the eggs. If they lay them on weeds and rub- 
bish he can destroy them by keeping fence rows clean 
and fields free from weeds. If they lay them in the 
ground in the fall he can plow the ground and freeze 
them out. If they are leaf-eating insects he can spray 
the crop with water containing paris green and poison 
their food. If they are sap-sucking insects, like plant 
lice, he can spray the trees or plants on which they 
live with a mixture of kerosene and soap suds, which 
will fill up the little breathing holes in the sides of 
their bodies and kill them. At the close of this chapter 
will be found formulae for spraying mixtures for 



INSECTS AND PLANT DISEASES 79 

both these kinds of insects. Some farmers plant a 
"trap" crop — that is, a crop earher than the regular 
one — upon which the insects light to deposit their 
eggs. As soon as the eggs are laid the crop is de- 
stroyed, or else it is poisoned to destroy both the old 
insects and the young ones when they hatch. 

Caution in Using Poisons. — A word of caution in 
the use of poisons is necessary here. Cases are on 
record where people have been poisoned with paris 
green intended for insects. Of course, it should never 
be applied to cabbage or celery or any vegetable that is 
used for food. Currants have sometimes been poisoned 
in an effort to kill the currant worm. In no case 
should deadly poison be used on fruit trees after the 
fruit has begun to form. 

Other Plant Diseases. — It is often convenient for the 
farmer to fight other enemies of his crop, known as 
plant diseases, while carrying on his fight against in- 
sects, as one vSpraying may be made to do for both. 

Rust, blight, smut, rot and the like are diseases 
which afflict the plant. They are caused by little, dust- 
like particles, called spores, that float around in the 
air and settle on healthy plants. Here they grow and 
multiply very rapidly. They injure the plant by living 
upon its sap — in much the same way that lice and ticks 
suck the blood of cattle and sheep. They must be 
destroyed or they will destroy the plant on which they 
feed. 

As soon as the spores make their appearance in the 
field or orchard the farmer should begin his fight. If 



8o ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

it is blight, the affected part should be immediately cut 
off and burned. If this is not done the wind will carry 
the spores to the other trees, and soon the whole 
orchard will be affected. The other trees should be 
sprayed with Bordeaux mixture to prevent the spread 
of the disease. 

To Destroy Oat Smut. — For some years past oat 
smut has been destroying a large portion of the crop 
all over the United States, but this disease is now un- 
der control, as a way to kill the spores has been discov- 
ered. The treatment consists in soaking the seed for 
a few minutes in a solution of formaldehyde, and then 
spreading it out on the floor to dry before sowing. 
The recipe is given at the close of this chapter. 

Destruction of Spores. — So it is with all plant dis- 
eases — destroy the spores, and the disease is destroyed. 
The best medicine for this purpose is formaldehyde, a 
substance which can be obtained at any drug store. It 
will destroy the spores of more plant diseases than any 
other remedy yet discovered, and is usually applied by 
soaking the seed in the solution before planting. 

Excess of Insect Poisons. — Care must be taken in 
applying mixtures for both insects and plant diseases 
not to get too much poison on the plants, as the crop 
itself may be injured thereby. Paris green may be 
sprinkled on potato vines with an old pepper box, if 
care is taken not to use too much. It should be dusted 
over the plants as one walks rapidly along the row. 
Two pounds of poison is ample for an acre of pota- 
toes. 



INSECTS AND PLANT DISEASES 8i 

When the crop is troubled by both insects and plant 
diseases the remedies may be mixed and applied at a 
single spraying. A good spraying pump costs from 
two dollars up. The recipes for and the average cost 
of the mixtures are given below. 

Experimental Study of Insects. 

Insects may be captured with a net made of mos- 
quito bar attached to a hoop at the end of a long 
stick. Before examination they should be killed in a 
''cyanide bottle." This bottle is prepared as follows: 
Into a large-mouthed bottle, provided with a cork, put 
a small piece of potassium cyanide, a very deadly 
poison. Cover this poison with a layer of plaster of 
paris and allow it to harden. Always keep the bottle 
tightly corked. Shake the live insect from the net into 
this bottle and it will soon be ready for examination. 

1. Study a wasp, a bee, or a grasshopper. Note 
the three parts of its body, the head, the thorax or 
middle section, and the large hind section, or abdomen. 
Also note that the abdomen is made up of smaller, 
ring-like sections. From this can you see why they 
are called insects? Watch the abdomen of a live in- 
sect closely and see it expand and contract as the in- 
sect breathes. 

2. How many legs has an insect? Are they al- 
ways attached to the same part of the body ? How are 
the legs jointed? 

3. Many insects are wingless ; some have a single 
pair of wings and others have two pairs of wings. 



82 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

Beetles have thick heavy wing covers. Examine in- 
sects and note the number and kind of wings on each 
species. 

4. All insects have antennae or ''feelers." In your 
study of insects compare their antennae. Are they 
long or short? smooth or feathered? Of what use 
are the antennae? 

5. Study the mouth parts of different insects and 
try to determine the different ways in which they get 
their food. The butterfly and the grasshopper are 
good examples. 

6. Make a little cage and put into it a live cater- 
pillar with plenty of green leaves of the kind on which 
it feeds. Watch it spin its cocoon and go into the rest- 
ing stage. Keep it where you can observe what hap- 
pens later. In the spring collect cocoons, put them 
into your cage and wait for the moths or butterflies 
to come out. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

— Spraying for Fruit Diseases. 
— Some Insects Injurious to Stored Grain. 
— The Grain Smuts : Cause and Prevention. 
— Potato Diseases and Their Treatment. 
— Three Insect Enemies of Shade Trees. 

Important Insecticides. 
—The Principal Insect Enemies of Wheat. 
— Insecticides and Fungicides. 
—The Control of the CodHng Moth. 

Scale Insects and Mites on Citrus Trees. 

The Usefulness of the Toad. 

The Cotton Bollworm. 



No. 


38. 


No. 


45- 


No. 


75- 


No. 


91. 


No. 


99- 


No. 


127. 


No. 


132. 


No. 


146. 


No. 


171. 


No. 


172. 


No. 


196 


No. 


212 



THE CROP 103 

Free Bulletins, Tennessee State Board of Entomology, Knox- 
ville. 

Fourth Annual Report. 
Bulletins 1 to 4, inclusive. 

Tennessee Experiment Station: 

Vol. XVIII, No. 4.— The Control of Insects and Fungi. 
No. 81. — Tick Eradication. 

Spraying Mixtures for Plant Diseases. 
(Bordeaux Mixture.) 

8 lbs. unslacked lime $0.04 

4 lbs. copper sulphate at 5c 20 

Total $0.24 

Dissolve each thoroughly in 25 gallons of water. When both 
are thoroughly dissolved, mix. Use wooden vessels. Strain 
carefully into spray-pump, barrel, or tank. 

Dilute Bordeaux Mixture. 
(For peach diseases — leaf curl, brown rot, etc.) 
The above solution is too strong for peach foliage, and the 
following has proven effective in peach diseases : 
% lb. copper sulphate. 

10 lbs. unslacked lime. 
Prepare as above. 

For Leaf -Eating Insects. 

Vz lb. Paris green to 50 gallons water. Spray. 

Cost $0.15 

3 lbs. arsenate of lead to 50 gallons water. 

Cost $0.45 

Arsenate of lead sticks to the plant much better than Paris 
green, and is therefore more useful, especially in rainy seasons. 

For Sap-Sucking Insects. 

2 gallons kerosene $0.25 

1 lb. hard soap (1 qt. soft soap) 10 

1 gallon water 

Total cost $0.35 



^ 



104 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

The above are the best remedies in general use. The first two 
may be combined, or rather the poison may be added to the first 
mixture. 

FORMALDEHYDE SOLUTION. 

For Oat and Wheat Smut and Potato Scab. 

1 pint (40 per cent) formaldehyde $0.50 

36 gallons of water 

Total $0.50 

Put seed in "gunny sack," soak in this solution for ten minutes, 
and spread out to dry. The above solution is sufficient for 40 

bushels of seed. 

Problems. 

1. Suppose it takes 200 gals. Bordeaux 'inixture to 
spray an acre of potatoes. What is the cost of the 
mixture ? 

2. Suppose it takes two apphcations to cure the 
Wight and each apphcation requires a day's time, 
worth $1. What is the cost of the cure? 

3. How many bushels of potatoes, worth 25 cents, 
will it take to pay the cost of this cure? 

4. Suppose two fields of potatoes of an acre each 
owned by different farmers. One farmer sprays to 
cure the blight and gets 188 bushels of potatoes worth 
25 cents per bushel. The other neglects his field and 
gets but 75 bushels. What is the difference in the 
value of the two crops ? 

5. What did it cost the first farmer to apply the 
spray ? What is his actual gain over the other farmer ? 
Did it pay to spray? 

6. Suppose it takes two applications of two pounds 
of paris green each, and two days' time at $1 per day 



THE CROP los 

to destroy the bugs on an acre of potatoes, how many 
bushels of potatoes at 30 cents will it take to pay for 
the treatment? 

7. Suppose the yield is increased from 50 bushels 
to 200 bushels thereby, with potatoes at 20 cents per 
bushel, what does the farmer gain ? 

8. If both bugs and blight attack the crop, what is 
to be done? What will be the cost of both remedies? 
What will be saved by mixing the cures ? 

9. How much does the formaldehyde solution cost 
per bushel for seed oats ? 

10. If three bushels are sown to the acre, what 
does this solution cost per acre ? 

11. Suppose it takes a day's work, worth $1, to 
treat the seed for twelve acres, what is the total cost 
of the treatment ? 

12. How many bushels of oats at 30 cents will it 
take to pay the cost of the treatment? 

13. Suppose the treatment increases the yield 
twenty bushels per acre, how much does the farmer 
gain on his crop? 

14. How much is gained per acre by the use of the 
treatment ? 

15. What is the cost per acre of the treatment? 
The cost of the treatment for a forty-acre held? For 
a twenty-four-acre field ? 

16. Pupils Vx^ll furnish data for similar problems. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE DESTRUCTION OF WEEDS 

The Nature of Weeds. — The Bible provides that 
man shall eat bread in the sweat of his face. This is 
esj^ecially true of the farmer's life. His is a continual 
battle against the enemies of his crops. He must work 
hard, early and late, to combat the ravages of insect 
pests and plant diseases, but harder still to eradicate 
the weeds. 

Any plant growing where the farmer does not want 
it might be considered a weed. Why are weeds ob- 
jectionable? In the first place, they rob other plants 
of their food. Suppose you go every morning to feed 
the chickens and as soon as you throw down the grain 
for them a great flock of pigeons from a neighboring 
farm should swoop down and pick up half of it before 
the chickens could get it, would you not say to that 
neighbor, "If you don't take care of those pigeons 
I shall" ? 

Work of Weeds. — Weeds rob the other plants of 
their food just as truly and just as effectually as the 
pigeons rob the chickens in the illustration given above. 
If weeds are allowed to grow in a field the crop is 



THE FIGHT AGAINST WEEDS 87 

starved out. They rob the plants of moisture as well 
as of food. In the second place, they serve as a breed- 
ing ground for insects, as many insects seem to prefer 
to lay their eggs on weeds. In the third place, they 
shade small plants and rob them of much needed sun- 
light. These are the principal reasons why weeds 
should be destroyed. 

Classification of Weeds. — In order to fight weeds 
to the best advantage we must know something of 
their life history. They may be divided into three 
classes — annuals, biennials, and perennials. 

Annuals. — Plants that go to seed every year and 
then die, coming up from the seed each year, are called 
annuals. Pigweed, wild mustard, sweet clover and 
ragweed belong to this class. It is only necessary to 
prevent them from going to seed to destroy them. 
This class of weeds is the easiest one to get rid of. 

Biennials. — Plants that live for two years are bi- 
ennials. They grow up from the seed one year and 
grow a heavy root, but do not go to seed that year. 
The next year they come up from the root, go to seed 
and then die. If we pull them up by the roots the 
first year, or keep them from going to seed the second 
year, we can easily destroy them. Cutting them off 
and not allowing them to go to seed for two years in 
succession will have the same effect. Mullein, wild 
parsnip, burdock and bull thistle belong to this class. 

Perennials. — Plants that go to seed every year but 
whose roots live on from year to 3^ear are perennials, 
and the only way to eradicate them is to destroy them 



88 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

root and branch — not an easy thing to do. Perennials 
give most trouble to the farmer. To this class belong 
the large number of ''noxious" weeds, Canada thistle, 
ox-eye daisy, couch grass, sorrel and common dock. 
As soon as any of the above make their appearance 
on the farm the farmer should dig them up and burn 
them. If they are allowed to spread they will soon 
have possession of the farm. The writer has seen 
whole plantations, thousands of acres, in the South 
surrendered to the ox-eye daisy. When weeds have 
driven the farmer off the land is rendered valueless, 
as it is next to impossible to subdue them if they once 
have gained control. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

Farmers* Bulletins. 

No. 28. — Weeds and How to Kill Them. 
No. 188. — Weeds Used in Medicine. 

Extracts. 

No. 133. — Birds as Weed Destroyers. 

Problems. 

1. If a clean field produces 60 bu. of corn per acre 
and a weedy one only 35 bu. per acre, what is the loss 
caused by weeds with corn at 35 cents per bushel? 

2. What would be the loss on a 20-acre field at the 
same rate? 

3. For how many days' labor at $1 per day will an 
amount of money equal to this loss pay? 

4. Suppose it required only four days' work to 



THE FIGHT AGAINST WEEDS 89 

keep an acre free from weeds, what would be the gain 
per acre? 

5. What would be the gain on a 24-acre field? 

6. Is the quality of the corn from a weedy field 
ever so good as that from a clean field? Why? 

7. Suppose clean oats produce 65 bu. per acre and 
weedy oats produce only 48 bu. per acre, with oats at 
30 cents per bushel what is the loss from weeds ? What 
is the loss on a i6-acre field? 

8. Are oats grown in a weedy field as good in 
quality as clean grown oats ? Explain. 

9. Give several reasons for weedy oats. Can weeds 
in oats be easily destroyed after the oats are sown? 

10. Will crop rotation prevent weeds in oats? 
What is a good crop for oats to follow ? Why ? 

11. A yield of 300 bu. of potatoes per acre would 
be an excellent crop. The land would need to be well 
cultivated and kept free from weeds to produce this. 
Suppose but 140 bu. are grown instead, what is the 
loss from lack of labor? At 25 cents per bushel what 
is the money value of this loss? 

12. For how many days' labor at $1.25 per day will 
an amount of money equal to this loss pay? 

13. Suppose only twelve days' extra labor were 
required to give the larger yield, how much would 
be gained? 

14. If the farmer did these extra twelve days' 
work himself, what would he get per day for his time? 

15. Pupils will furnish data from their own experi- 
ence and trom home for similar problems. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE STOCK ON THE FARM 

Stock. — The successful farmer avoids ''scrub" stock. 
He has learned two important facts : First, that it pays 
to take good care of his stock, and, second, that it costs 
no more, in care and feed, to' raise a good animal than 
to raise a poor one. Now, let us analyze these two 
propositions and see how a thorough understanding 
of these truths affects the farmer's success. 

Why Anwials Need Food. — As will be more fully 
discussed in the next chapter, animals must be fed for 
several reasons. In the first place they must grow, 
and the food that they eat furnishes the material for 
this growth. In the second place they must be kept 
warm, and the fuel for animal heat comes from their 
food. Again, if some special product, like milk, is to 
be produced; this, too, must come from the food. 
Why does it pay to take good care of stock ? 

Feeding Stock. — Care is here meant to include food, 
shelter and general attention. If the animal is to grow 
rapidly it must be well fed, since the food furnishes 
the material for this increase in weight. Not only 
this, but it must be fed regularly. If not, its digestive 
organs become deranged : that is, it becomes dyspeptic 
and its food passes off without being properly digested. 



THE STOCK ON THE FARM 91 

The Shelter of Stock. — Stock must be provided with 
shelter at aU seasons of the year to protect them from 
the heat and storms of summer and the cold of winter. 
If their stables are cold, then the additional heat re- 
quired to keep them warm must be furnished by addi- 
tional food. Animals, like persons, are very sensitive 
to sudden changes of temperature, to sleet and snow, 
and cold and wind. They " catch cold," get sick and 
lose flesh in consequence. How necessary, then, for 
the farmer to provide a shed for the cattle to run 
under during storms, a tight board fence on the north 
and west sides of the barnyard to break the wind, and 
warm stables for all his stock. 

General Attention to Stock. — General attention 
covers that watchful care so necessary to successful 
stock raising. Barns and barnyards must be kept 
clean, stalls bedded, pure water provided, stock kept 
free from ticks and lice, horses curried, their feet at- 
tended to, the health of all animals carefully watched, 
diseased ones removed and shut up by themselves; 
these, all these, and a thousand and one other little 
things constitute the general attention which the suc- 
cessful farmer gives to his stock. 

Effect of Lack of Care. — We can best prove that it 
pays by imagining the result of a lack of such care. 
With neglect more food is required to make the ani- 
mals grow and more food needed to keep them warm. 
Neglected animals grow slowly, are "stunted" in 
growth, finally stop growing altogether, and some- 
times sicken and die. Dirty animals are unhealthy 



92 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



and get ''scabby" and "lousy." Unless carefully at- 
tended to, horses get the thrush or contracted feet, are 
''foundered" and ruined. Cows exposed to wet and 
cold, or chased by dogs, "shrink in milk." All these 
conditions cause great loss to the farmer. No one can 
doubt that it pays to take good care of the stock. 

Advantages of Good Stock. — Now for the other 
proposition : It costs no more, in feed and care, to 
raise a good animal than it does to raise a poor one. 




FANCY SUEKl'. 

A scrub cow takes as much stable room, eats as much 
hay, requires as much pasture, takes as much time to 
milk, needs as much general attention, and, in the end, 
returns about half as much product to the farmer. A 
"scrub" colt requires all that a blooded colt requires 
and is worth about half as much on the market. A 
"scrub" sheep is no better than a "scrub" cow. She 
produces about half as much wool and raises a "scrub" 
lamb that sells for about half what a good one brings. 



THE STOCK ON THE FARM 



93 



There is nothing bad enough to say of a ''scrub" hog. 
It certainly requires as much care as a genuine 
"porker." What does it bring on the market? Not 
half what a well- bred pig of the same age will bring. 

If more evidence of the truth of the two propositions 
stated at the beginning of this chapter is needed it will 
be found in the answers to the practical problems 
which follow. 




WELL BRED PIGS. 

Fertilizer in Stock Food. — One thing must not be 
lost sight of, however. Hay and grain fed to stock 
are not entirely wasted. In a ton of hay worth $6 
there is at least $3 worth of manure, if it is carefully 
saved and returned to the land. But $3 in value has 
actually disappeared when the hay has been fed. Ten 
dollars' worth of oats, or corn, or barley, fed to stock, 
will give in return $3.50 worth of manure. Below is 
given a table showing the actual cash value of the ma- 



94 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

nure produced by different farm animals during the 
year when they are kept in stalls and the manure care- 
fully saved. On the average farm at least two-thirds 
of this value is wasted. Pupils should use the second 
table for ordinary problems. To the increase in the 
value of the animal produced by feeding a certain 
amount of feed must be added the value of the manure 
produced by the animal from the food that is eaten. 

Free Bulletins, TJ. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

No. 41. — Fowls : Care and Feeding. 

No. 51. — Standard Varieties of Chickens. 

No. 64. — Ducks and Geese: Breeds and Management. 

No. 100. — Hog Raising in the South. 

No. 141. — Poultry Raising on the Farm. 

No. 179. — Horseshoeing. 

No. 200. — Turkeys : Breeds and Management. 

No. 205. — Pig Management. 
Extracts. 

No. 15. — Some Practical Suggestions for the Suppression and 
Prevention of Bovine Tuberculosis. 

Table IX. 

Table showing value of manure, per head, produced annually 
by farm animals: 

Horse $27.00 

Cow 1900 

Hog 12.00 

Sheep 2.00 

Table X. 
Table showing value of manure, per animal, saved annually 
from animals by the average farmer: 

Horse $1000 

Cow 6.00 

• Hog 400 

Sheep 75 



THE STOCK ON THE FARM 95 

Problems. 

1. A COW requires about 4 ft. by 9 ft. floor space 
for a stall, with 4 ft. by 3 ft. additional for a manger. 
How much floor space will be required for 20 cows ? 

2. Will it be better to stand the cattle in one long 
row, or in two rows of 10 each? 

3. If in two rows, would you have them face each 
other with the manger between, or face the wall? 
Why? 

4. What will be the dimensions of a barn for 20 
cows in two rows of 10 each, using the floor space 
given in the first problem? 

5. Draw a plan of this barn with cows facing each 
other. With the cows facing the wall. What are the 
advantages and disadvantages of each plan ? 

6. How many feet of 2-inch plank will it take to 
lay the floor in this barn? Find cost of same at $25 
per thousand. 

7. What will be the cost of a cement floor for same 
at 10 cents per sq. ft.? 

8. Will ''scrub" cattle require the same room? 

Note : In the following examples do not forget to add the 
value of the manure produced to the value of the product : 

9. If a COW eats 3 tons of hay worth $6 per ton, 
1,000 lbs. of ground feed worth 80 cents per cwt., and 
pasture amounting to $5 in a year, what does it cost a 
farmer to keep a cow? Will a ''scrub" cow cost as 
much ? 

10. A "scrub" cow will give 15 lbs. of milk, worth 



96 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

80 cents per cwt., daily for 300 days in the year, and 
raise a calf worth $3. What is the farmer's profit on 
her ? 

11. A Jersey cow will give 25 lbs. of milk daily 
for the same time and raise a calf worth $5. What is 
the farmer's profit on her ? 

12. How much more does he make on the Jersey 
than on the ''scrub"? 

13. If it costs 2 tons of hay, 40 bu. of oats and $6 
worth of pasture annually to raise a colt, what does it 
cost to raise a horse 4 years old with hay at $5 per ton 
and oats at 30 cents per bu. ? 

14. A ''scrub" colt will bring about $80. Has the 
farmer lost or gained, and how much? 

15. A coach horse will bring $150 instead. What 
has the farmer gained or lost on this colt? Which is 
the more profitable animal? 

16. If it takes 3 tons of hay worth $6 per ton, 50 
bu. of oats worth 25 cents per bu., and $10 worth of 
pasture to keep 10 sheep for a year, what is the cost 
per head ? 

17. If one "scrub" sheep will shear about 4 lbs. 
of wool worth 20 cents per lb., and raise a lamb that 
will weigh about 50 lbs. and bring about $3.50 per 
cwt., what will the entire flock return to the farmer? 
What will each sheep return? Will he gain or lose, 
and how much? 

18. If of a good breed, each sheep will shear about 
8 lbs. of wool and raise a lamb weighing about 70 lbs.. 



THE STOCK ON THE FARM 97 

worth $5 per cwt., what will this flock return? What 
will each sheep return? 

19. How much per head will be the farmer's gain 
on a well-bred flock? 

20. If it takes 12 bu. of corn worth 35 cents per 
bu. and $3 worth of other feed to raise a pig until it is 
six months old, what is the cost of the pig to the 
farmer ? 

21. If a ''scrub," it will weigh about 125 lbs. at six 
months and bring $4 per cwt. Will the farmer gain or 
lose? 

22. If a Poland-China, it will weigh about 200 lbs. 
and be worth $4.75 per cwt. What is the pig worth? 
Will the farmer gain or lose, and how much? 

2^^. How much more will the blooded pig bring on 
the market than the scrub? 

24. Pupils will furnish data on the weight of ani- 
mals sold, the number pounds of milk, wool, etc., pro- 
duced, the price of feed and products for similar 
problems. 



CHAPTER XIV 



FEEDING THE STOCK 



Reasons for Feeding Stock. — We all know that 
farm animals should be fed, well fed, but we do not all 
know exactly zvliy they need feeding. Some of the 
reasons were mentioned in the last chapter. Let us 
name them all now : 

To repair the waste. 

To build up the body. 

3. To keep the body warm. 

4. To furnish energy for the body. 

5. To make special products — milk, eggs, wool and 
the like. 

Repair of the Waste. — As the horse works, and the 
sheep or cow walks about in search of food, or even in 
the ordinary functions of life, the animal body is con- 
tinually wearing away. What child has not noticed 
the horses grow poor during the ''spring work" or ob- 
served that he himself has lost weight after great 
exertion! This loss in weight is the waste that must 
be repaired, and for this repair food is necessary. For 
this very reason farmers always feed their horses more 
when they work them hard. 



FEEDING THE STOCK 99 

Why Growing Animals Need Plenty of Food. — 
Growing animals must not only keep this waste re- 
paired, but they must also increase in weight. For 
this reason they need more food in proportion to their 
size. First, waste must be repaired before the animal 
can grow ; then, whatever is left over, goes toward 
building up the body. 

Food Supply and Energy. — Work horses must feel 
strong; that is, they must be full of energy. But what 
is energy ? Simply this : pow^r to do work. A healthy 
man has more energy than a healthy boy. He has 
stronger muscles. He has greater power to do work 
and can endure more of it. So the horse to do work 
must have muscular energy. His muscles are formed 
from the food that he eats. 

Food Supply and Special Products. — The milk cow 
must have more food than the one that gives no milk. 
She must have food to build up her body, to repair the 
waste, to keep her warm, to furnish her with energy, 
and, besides this, she must have additional food out of 
which to make milk. Let her food supply decrease 
and she will at once show it in the reduced amount 
of milk that she gives. You have all noticed this 
shrinkage when the pastures get "short" in summer. 
So, too, the sheep must have extra food out of which 
to make wool, and the hen requires special food from 
which to make eggs. 

Kind of Food Needed Varies. — If a man were to 
start a shoe factory he would buy leather, pegs, nails 
and thread. These are the raw materials out of which 



100 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

he makes shoes. If he were to start a chair factory 
he would buy lumber instead. That is, his selection 
of material would depend upon the kind of product he 
expected to manufacture. It is just the same in the 
feeding of farm animals. If milk is to be produced, 
then foods that make milk must be fed. If eggs are 
wanted, hens must be fed egg-producing foods. If 
work is to be done, then foods which make energy 
must be supplied. The horse is a machine to do 
work, the hen an egg-making machine, the cow a milk 
factory. Different foods are the raw materials ; eggs 
and milk, the manufactured products. 

Importance of Right Selection of Foods. — But, you 
say, we know that lumber is needed to make chairs; 
leather, nails and thread necessary in the manufacture 
of shoes ; but we don't know what will make milk and 
eggs. Well, you have grasped at the question that 
underlies the whole system of feeding, and until the 
farmer determines for himself the best and most eco- 
nomical food to be used in order to produce the de- 
sired results farming will not pay him its largest re- 
turns. 

Classification of Foods. — Foods are conveniently di- 
vided into three classes — fats, protein and carbohy- 
drates. These are big words, but they are easily un- 
derstood. 

Fats. — Butter, lard, tallow, and all kinds of oils 
come under the head of fats. 

Protein. — The white of an egg is almost pure pro- 
tein ; the sticky part of flour is protein ; the scum on the 



FEEDING THE STOCK 



121 



top of boiled milk is protein; the principal part of 
cheese, the curd, is protein ; lean meat is composed 
largely of protein ; glue is protein ; the hide, hair, wool 
and feathers of animals are largely protein. You all 
know the odor of burned feathers; any kind of sub- 




A PRIZE COACH HORSE. 
With such a horse as this who would want an airship? 

stance that scorches and gives off that odor contains 
protein. 

Carbohydrates. — Starch, sugar and vegetable fiber 
are called carbohydrates. In a certain sense fats, too, 
are carbohydrates, but they are usually put m a class 



102 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

by themselves. When carbohydrates are spoken of in 
this book fats are meant to be inckided. 

Difference Between Protein Foods and Carbo- 
hydrates. — Now, the great difference between protein 
foods and the carbohydrates is this : Protein contains 
nitrogen and the carbohydrates do not. Nitrogen, as 
yon will remember, is the substance taken from the air 
by the bacteria on the roots of the legumes and added 
to the soil. You will also remember it as the principal 
one of the three plant foods that become exhausted 
from the soil. 

Balanced Ration. — By consulting the table at the 
end of this chapter you will readily learn the amount 
of protein and carbohydrates in the different feeding 
stuffs. A ^'balanced" ration is one in which there is 
about six times as much carbohydrates as protein. A 
ration containing a larger proportion of carbohydrates 
is called a "wide" ration : one containing less than six 
times as much carbohydrates as protein is called a 
"narrow" ration. By a balanced ration we mean the 
best ration to feed under ordinary conditions. For dry 
feeds the combined weight of both the protein and the 
carbohydrates should be equal to at least one-half the 
total weight of the ration. 

Different Uses of Foods. — Foods rich in protein are 
bone and muscle-formers. Those rich in carbohydrates 
are fat formers. Carbohydrates keep the body warm. 
If muscle is to be built up, then muscle-forming foods 
should be fed. Farmers have learned that corn alone 
is a good grain for horses only in the winter time. The 



FEEDING THE STOCK 103 

reason is plain. Corn is rich in carbohydrates. These 
supply heat and produce fat. Oats are rich in protein, 
a muscle-builder, and furnish energy. In spring time 
it is muscle and energy that is wanted, not heat and 
fat. 

Special Foods Needed. — Sheep need food rich in 
protein. Why ? Wool is to be produced. Wool is com- 
posed principally of protein. Hens are expected to 
lay eggs. What should they be fed? Corn produces 
fat. A strictly corn diet should therefore be avoided. 
Eggs are composed largely of protein. Feed protein 
foods. The shells are composed of mineral matter. 
Lime, broken or ground bone, ashes and gravel should 
always be where the hens can get at them. In gen- 
eral : Nature has provided, in summer, proper foods 
for most farm animals, and the nearer summer condi- 
tions can be duplicated the greater will be the farmer's 
success. 

Special Proportions. — Pigs fed exclusively on a 
corn diet sometimes have weak bones. Why? Be- 
cause there is not enough mineral matter in corn out 
of which to make strong bones. Growing pigs should 
be fed protein foods, with plenty of mineral matter 
in them to form bone and muscle. Later, when fatten- 
ing time comes, fat producing foods, like corn, should 
be fed. In most foods there is an abundance of carbo- 
hydrates. The chief difficulty will be to provide suf- 
ficient protein to bring the ratio up to six to one ; that 
is, so that there will not be more than six times as 



104 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

much carbohydrates as there is protein in the ration. 
In other words, for every six pounds of carbohydrates 
there should be at least one pound of protein. For 
young and growing animals it should be considerably 
more than that. 

As has been stated, fat is usually put in a class by 
itself, and not grouped with the carbohydrates as it is 
in this book. This is one reason : One pound of fat 
will produce about 2j4 times as much heat and energy 
as one pound of carbohydrates, so that one pound of 
fat is equal to 2^4 pounds of carbohydrates in feeding 
value. If we have i lb. of fat, ^^l lbs. of carbo- 
hydrates and I lb. of protein in a given ration, we have 
a ratio of 6 to i. In the following table the fat has 
already been added to the carbohydrates, so that, in 
order to find the nutritive ratio, it will only be neces- 
sary for you to use the following rule : Divide the 
total amount of carbohydrates in the ration by the total 
amount of protein. 

If the result is greater than 6, more protein should 
be added. This ratio is generally considered the best 
for all animals except those that are fattening, when a 
larger amount of cheaper carbohydrates can be fed 
with profit. Full grown animals can get along very 
well on a much smaller proportion of protein, while 
young, growing animals require a larger proportion 
than this, because protein is a bone and muscle builder. 

Economy in Feeding. — The great problem of eco- 
nomical feeding is to find those foods that will pro- 
duce the desired results with the least possible expense. 



FEEDING THE STOCK 105 

It is not necessarily the cheapest foods that will do 
this. 

The Use of Scales. — In this connection, it may be 
well to call attention to the farm scales, something 
that should be found on every well-regulated farm. 
The farmer may, then, from time to time, experiment 
with different feeds, both as to cjuantity and kind, and 
by frequent weighings of the animals so fed, determine 
the effect of such feeding. Besides, scales are very 
handy in selling produce, weighing milk and in a thou- 
sand and one other ways. They are comparatively in- 
expensive, and will, with proper use, pay for them- 
selves in a very short time. 

Experimental Study of Foods. 

1. Starch and sugar are pure carbohydrates. Get 
some samples of these, label them and start a collec- 
tion of carbohydrates. Add to this collection samples 
of foods rich in sugar and starch. Corn, wheat, rye, 
barley, mixed hay, silage, and all kinds of straw may 
be classed as carbohydrate foods. Place these sam- 
ples in bottles and label them properly. 

2. To test seeds for starch, pulverize the seeds, boil 
them in water for some time, and soak a piece of cot- 
ton cloth in the water. Take out the cloth, dry, and 
iron it. Is it stiff or ''starchy" ? If so, where did the 
starch come from? 

3. Test corn,, oats, wheat and rye for starch. Pul- 
verize a few seeds, pour over them a little boiling 
water, let stand a short time, and add a drop of iodine. 



io6 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

If the seeds contain starch, the water will suddenly 
turn blue or black. This is a very delicate and pretty 
experiment. 

4. Many seeds contain sugar, for which every one 
knows the simplest test. To make the test sure, mas- 
tication should be slow and thorough. Even a slightly 
sweet taste indicates the presence of sugar. Test 
wheat, oats, corn, peas, squash seeds, and pumpkin 
seeds. 

5. All seeds contain some protein. Every one knows 
the odor of burning feathers. This disagreeable odor 
is caused by the burning of the protein in the feather. 
Remove the germ from a kernel of corn and scorch it 
over a spirit lamp or on the stove. Does it give off an 
odor like that of burning feathers? If so, it contains 
protein. Test other seeds for protein. 

6. Lean meat, the white of egg, wheat bran, oats, 
peas, middlings, cheese, malt sprouts, and clover hay 
are all rich in protein and ma}^ be properly called pro- 
tein foods. Add these to your collection, labeling them 
properly. To preserve the meat, eggs, and cheese 
they should be placed in dilute alcohol. 

7. Nearly all small seeds contain much oil. To test 
for oil, crush the seeds on a piece of clean, white 
paper. If they leave a grease spot, the seeds contain 
oil. For further test, crush the seeds on a piece of 
white paper, and heat gently in the oven, being care- 
ful not to scorch the paper. A grease spot on the 
paper shows oil. Test flax seed, wheat, beans, sun- 
flower seeds, and any kind of nut for oil. 



FEEDING THE STOCK 



107 



Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

Farmers' Bulletins. 

No. 22. — The Feeding of Farm Animals. 
No. 26. — Cotton Seed and Its Products. 
No. 49. — Sheep Feeding. 
No. 58. — The Soy Bean as a Forage Crop. 
No. 170. — The Principles of Horse Feeding. 



Table XI. 
Table showing digestible nutrients in feeding stuffs: 

POUNDS PER TON. 

Kind of Feed. Protein. Carbohydrates. 

Soy beans 210 800 

Cow peas 210 800 

Clover hay 1 70 920 

Red top hay 95 980 

Mixed hay 88 880 

Timothy hay 56 920 

Corn fodder ' 50 710 

Rape, green 42 170 

Corn silage 24 290 

Oat straw 24 920 

Sugar beet pulp, fresh 13 140 

Rye straw 12 830 

Wheat straw 8 740 

POUNDS PER HUNDREDWEIGHT. 

Kind of Feed. Protein. Carbohydrates. 

*Cotton seed meal 40 40 

*Linseed meal 32 42 

*Gluten meal 25 60 

Malt sprouts 18 46 

Wheat bran 12 46 

Wheat middlings 12 58 

Brewer's grains, dry 10 50 

Whole milk.* 3>^ 13 

Skim milk 3 6 

*These feeds are very rich in fat and should be fed sparingly. 



u\«? Fl.l-Ml-X lARV Ac^RICI'LTURF: 

POUNDS im:k ih sun.. 
Kind of Feed. PriMoiii. Carbohydrates. 
Dry pens i o 32 

i^y^^ 5 39 

l^^Tlcy 4 32 

Corn y/^ 40 

Oats 3 19 

Table XII. 

Table showing approximate amounts of protein and carbo- 
hydrates required daily by farm animals of average size: 

Animal. rrotoin. Carbohydrates. 

Dairy cow j lbs. 1 j lbs. 

Work horse j lbs. ij lbs. 

Calves under 1 year i lb. lbs. 

riv;s, iivowinvi ' .. lb. 2]j lbs. 

Lambs, orowing' 1-5 lb. 1 lb. 

Note: This amount varies with the size and age of the animal. 
Fattening stock can be protitably fed a greater allowance of 
carbohydrates in the foim of grain, like corn and barley. 

Problems. 

I. Tlmv many pouiuls oi pfotoin in a Inishel of oats? 
Willi o:\is at ^:;o cents per Ini.^hol. what does this pi*o- 
tein co.>^t per jMninvl, disrej^aixUni;' the carhohvch'ates? 

_\ Mow many poinuls pi'cMein in a bushel of barlev? 
With h:ii-ley a.t 44 cents per bushel, what does pfoteiii 
in this form cost per ponml ? 

3. Which is the cheaper feed at these prices? How 
much ? 

4. What is the cost per poniul of protein in rye at 
60 cents per bushel? 

5. What is the cost per pound of protein in corn at 
35 cents per bnshel? 



FEEDING THE STOCK uxj 

6. At the above prices wliicli is tlie cheapest feed? 

7. Which is probably the best iiiiid for fattening 
I)nr])oses? Why? 

«S. Sup])Ose all kinds of hay sell at the uniff^nn price 
of v$8 per ton. What is the price of protein per pound 
in each of the four kinds of hay ^\vcn above? 

9. Which is the cheapest feed? 

]o. What is the best kind of straw to feeil, and 
why? Jlow do we find the ''nutritive ratio"? What 
is the nutritive ratio of clover hay? Is it a balanced 
ration ? 

II. Find the nutritive value of all the feeds given 
in the tables. 

T2. Which are most nearly "perfect" feeds — i. e., 
which have a rati(j of about 6 to i ? 

13. Which are the poorest feeds — i. e., which have 
the lowest ratio of protein? 

14. Which are the feeds having the largest propor- 
tion of protein ? 

15. Are any of the feeds given in the table so por^r 
that, in themselves, they are practically worthless? 
If so, name them. 

Illustration. — One Ion of mixed liay contains 88 lbs. protein 
and 880 lbs. carbohydrates. Its ratio is i to 10. Let us mix it 
with some other feed to bring the ratio up to about i to 6. We 
shall try peas. We shall feed i bu. of ground peas with every 
hundred lbs. of hay. 

Feed. Protein. Carbohydrates. 

100 lbs. hay contain 4.4 44 

60 lbs. peas contain 10. 32 

160 lbs. mixed contain 14.4 y6 



no ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

Dividing weight of carbohydrates by that of protein {^^ by 
14.4) we get a ratio of about i to 5. We have more protein 
than we need. Let us try again with J/2 bu. of peas instead. 

Feed. Protein. Carbohydrates. 

100 lbs. hay contain 4.4 44 

30 lbs. peas contain 5. 16 

130 lbs. mixed contain 9.4 60 

Again dividing (60 by 9.4) we get 6.3, about right, and a much 
cheaper feed. Now, how much of this ration shall we feed to a 
dairy cow? The table shows us that a cow needs about 2 lbs. 
protein daily, so this will be about enough for five days. One- 
fifth of each feed will give us as a result 20 lbs. of hay and 6 lbs. 
of peas for the daily ration. 

16. With the ration given in the illustration, how 
long will a ton of hay last a cow ? 

17. How many bushels of ground peas will be re- 
quired in the same time? 

18. What will it cost to feed the cow for this time 
with hay at $7 per ton and peas at $1 per bushel? 

19. Suppose she gives 25 pounds of milk daily on 
this ration. With milk at $1.20 per cwt., what is 
gained ? 

20. Make a ration of clover hay and corn in the 
same way and figure its cost. 

21. Make a ration of oat straw, clover hay, and 
ground peas. 

Experiment until you get about the right ratio, be- 
ing careful not to use more grain than is necessary. 

22. Figure its cost at the current prices of feed. 

23. How long will your ration feed a work horse? 
What is the cost of this feed for a horse for one day? 



FEEDING THE STOCK in 

24. Make a ration of oats, hay and straw for work- 
horses. Add a httle cotton seed meal to supply pro- 
tein. When you get the ration ''balanced" figure its 
cost. You may have to try several times, but don't 
give up. Figure its daily cost per horse and compare 
with cost in last problem. 

25. Pupils tell price of feeds, kinds grown on farm 
at home, stock to be fed, etc., as data for other feeding 
problems. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE THREE C'S— COWS, CORN AND CLOVER 

Diversified Farming. — All who understand the con- 
ditions are agreed that diversified farming will yield 
the largest returns with least waste to the fertility of 
the soil. But what is meant by diversified farming? 

When a farmer grows wheat to sell, and little else, 
that may be called wheat farming. If he depends upon 
tobacco alone, we call that tobacco farming. If he 
plants his entire farm to corn and feeds it to hogs for 
the market, we may properly call that kind of farming 
corn and hog farming. Whenever he engages in two 
or more kinds of farming his work becomes "diversi- 
fied." The greater the number of different things he 
raises the greater the diversification. 

Clover. — But we have agreed that it is not a good 
thing to raise grain or tobacco exclusively, for the 
market. We have learned that this kind of farming 
soon wears out the soil, and does not pay in the long 
run. We have learned, too, that milk products con- 
tain little soil matter and are therefore easy on the 
soil. We have observed that the animals usually sold 
off the farm contain but small quantities of soil matter 
in proportion to the feed that they consume. We now 
know that clover feeds upon the free nitrogen of the 



THE THREE CS— COWS, CORN AND CLOVER 113 

air, and thus increases the store of nitrogen in the soil. 
We have learned that nitrogen is the principal ingre- 
dient in protein, the feed most sought after by the pro- 
gressive farmer. From an examination of the table, 
we find that clover hay is richer in protein than any 




cows IN A CLOVER FIELD. 

other kind of hay. A little calculation shows us that 
it contains about twice as much protein as redtop, 
three times as much as timothy, eight times as much 
as oat straw, fifteen times as much as rye straw, and 
thirty times as much as wheat straw. On average 
land a larger amount of clover, or some other legume 
adapted to the soil, can be grown per acre than of any 
other hay crop, and, since it adds nitrogen to the soil, 
it is by far the best hay crop to raise. 

Corn. — Another examination of the table reveals 
the fact that corn is one of the richest of grains, and 
since corn is one of the richest of fodders in feeding 



114 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

value, and the yield is heavy, corn is an excellent crop 
to raise. 

Cows. — Cows are a constant source of income to 
the farmer, and, at the same time, they supply him 
with the cheapest and best of fertilizers. You will re- 
member that if the manure from a single cow were 
carefully saved during the year and applied to the soil 
its value as fertilizer would be nearly $20, besides im- 
proving the texture of the soil to a marked degree. 

A Good Combination. — Cows, corn and clover are a 
splendid combination for other reasons. Corn requires 
frequent cultivation and the soil is improved thereby. 
Weeds are exterminated, the ground is plowed deeper, 
and the manure is thoroughly mixed with the soil. 
Besides being an excellent feeding stuff, and adding 
nitrogen to the soil, clover is a splendid crop to sow 
with oats, following corn, offering an excellent oppor- 
tunity for rotation of crops, the advantages of which 
have already been pointed out. 

Other Advajitages of the Three C's. — With cows, 
corn and clover, the raising of sheep and hogs is made 
possible and profitable. The cows and clover furnish 
milk and pasture for the growing animals, while corn 
is one of the best of fat-producers. Tobacco raising 
can also be engaged in, if the farmer is careful not to 
exhaust the fertility of his soil by too frequent crop- 
ping with tobacco. Sugar beets, too, are a source 
of good income to the farmer, and if the factory is so 
located that the pulp may be had for feeding purposes, 
or for manure, they also can be grown with little loss 



THE THREE C'S— COWS, CORN AND CLOVER 115 

to the soil. Sugar is a carbohydrate and, like butter, 
it is formed from the food matter which the plants 
get from the air and the water ; but it must be remem- 
bered that beets are heavy feeders and, if the return of 
the pulp is impossible, they, like tobacco, will sool 
wear out the soil. 

Kind of Farming Depends on Local Conditions. — 
The reader must not make the mistake of thinking 




A PRIZE PACKAGE.* 

that the system of diversified farming outlined here is 
necessarily the best system. The greatest flexibility is 
allowable, depending upon the location of the farm, 
the character of the soil, nearness to factories and 
markets, and various other conditions. But it is easily 
seen that in the North Central States, at least, cows, 
corn and clover should form the basis of any system 
of diversified farming. 

*This prize package was grown by Frank McConnell, a member of 
the Boys' Corn Club, of Hamilton County, Indiana. 



ii6 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

No. 8i. — Corn Culture in the South. 

No. 199. — Corn Growing. 

No. 106. — Breeds of Dairy Cattle. 

No. 143. — Conformation of Beef and Dairy Cattle. 

Problems. 

1. A ration for cows consists of one ton of clover 
hay with 10 bushels each of ground corn and oats. 
How long will this feed a cow, feeding two pounds of 
protein daily? 

2. What is the total and daily cost of this ration 
with hay at $7, corn at 40 cents and oats at 30 cents ? 

3. What will it cost to keep a herd of 12 cows for 
200 days on this ration? 

4. On another farm, timothy hay, oat straw, bran 
and oats are mixed in the following proportions : One 
ton each of hay and straw, 20 bushels of oats and 1,000 
pounds of bran. Is this a balanced ration? 

5. How long will this ration keep a cow? A herd 
of 15 cows? 

6. With hay worth $7, oats 30 cents, straw $4 
and bran 80 cents per cwt., what is the total cost of 
this ration? The cost per cow, per day? 

7. What is the cost of feeding a herd of 12 cows 
for 200 days on this ration? 

8. Compare the rations in problems i and 4. 
Which costs the more? Which is the nearer to a bal- 
anced ration? Which is likely to produce the better 
results in feeding? 

9. Suppose 20 pounds of each ration to be the daily 



THE THREE CS— COWS, CORN AND CLOVER 117 

allowance for each cow. How long would each ration 
last a cow ? What would be the daily cost ? 

10. Which is the cheaper ration under these con- 
ditions ? 

11. It must be remembered that in order to get 
the best results a cow should be fed about 2 pounds 
of protein daily. How much does she get with each 
ration, if fed 20 pounds of feed per day? 

12. Disregarding the value of the carbohydrates, 
what is the cost per pound of the protein in each 
ration ? 

13. A lack of protein means a smaller quantity of 
milk. Suppose cows fed on 20 pounds of the clover- 
corn-oats ration gave 20 pounds of milk daily, while 
those fed on the hay-straw-oats-bran ration gave but 
15 pounds of milk daily. With milk at 80 cents per 
cwt., what is the gain by using the first ration? 

14. Find the cost of each ration for a herd of 10 
cows for one month. One day. 

15. Now determine whether the cheaper ration 
is the more economical. 

16. Which is the better ration to feed under the 
above conditions? 

17. Make rations with different kinds of feeds, 
and figure the cost of the protein therein. 

18. When you have finished, compare results and 
note that cows, corn and clover seem to go well to- 
gether and give the best results. 

19. Pupils may bring data from home for similar 
problems. 



CHAPTER XVI 



THE DAIRY 



The Products of the Dairy. — Milk, butter and cheese 
are the products of the dairy. Whether the farmer 
should sell his milk, or" make it into butter or cheese, 
depends upon nearness to factories and markets, the 
relative price of milk products, and other local condi- 
tions. It must be constantly kept in mind that the 
sale of milk to consumers takes from the farm all the 
soil elements found in whole milk. The sale of 
cheese returns a portion of soil fertility with the whey, 
while the sale of butter removes practically nothing 
of a soil nature. The milk required to produce a ton 
of butter contains about 450 pounds of fertilizing sub- 
stances; the cheese made from the same amount of 
milk contains about, half as much of such substances, 
and the butter that this milk will produce contains less 
than five pounds of soil fertility. The reason is plain. 
Butter-fat is a carbohydrate, and carbohydrates, you 
will remember, come from the air and the water, not 
from the soil. Hence, with milk at the same price per 
hundred at both butter and cheese factories, it is far 
better to make butter than cheese for the market. 



THE DAIRY 



119 



Again, when butter is made, the skim milk is available 
to feed on the farm. Whey is of much less feeding 
value. 

The Milk Separator. — The use of the milk separator 
is increasing. This machine is a great time-saver. 
The skim milk may be fed warm and sweet, soon after 
being drawn from the cow. Only the cream need be 
hauled to the factory, and that but two or three times 
a week. 




JERSEY cow. 

Cleanliness in the Dairy. — Cleanliness is the watch- 
word of the dairy. This cannot be too strongly stated. 
Good milk, pure milk, sweet milk is essential, if good 
butter and cheese, capable of commanding the highest 
market prices, are to be made. Milk and milk prod- 
ucts are spoiled by bad flavors and bad odors. Bad 
flavors and bad odors in milk are caused by the cows' 
eating improper food and drinking impure water, and 
by uncleanliness on the part of the dairyman in the 



120 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

care of the milk. Milk cows should not be allowed to 
drink stagnant or muddy water, or to eat ''tainted" 
food, as musty hay, cabbage, rape, garlic, wild onions, 
or ragweed. These will certainly impart a bad odor 
and a bad flavor to the milk, which the most careful 
handling will not remove. 

Bad Odors in Milk. — In the second place, milk is a 
verv o^reat absorbent, and should never be allowed to 




HOLSTEIN-FRIESIAN COW. 

Stand around the barn, or in any other place where the 
air is filled with bad odors. 

Bacteria in Milk. — But the most fruitful source of 
bad milk is uncleanliness on the part of the dairyman 
in the care of the cow, and of the milking utensils. 
Milk should be kept pure and sweet. Sour milk, or 
bad milk, is caused by tiny bacteria, too small to be 
seen with the naked eye ; in fact, so small that they can 



THE DAIRY 121 

only be seen with the aid of the strongest microscopes. 
Under favorable conditions these bacteria increase in 
numbers very rapidly. They seem to thrive best in 
warm, damp weather. They live everywhere — on the 
hay, in the bedding, on the clothes and hands of the 
milker, on the cow's hair, in the milk cans and pails, 
and in the air. New milk, freshly drawn from the 



RED POLLED COW. 

COW, contains none of these bacteria, but they soon 
get into it and begin at once their rapid multiplication. 
When they have increased sufficiently in numbers, the 
milk begins to smell and taste sour and "bad." Only 
care and cleanliness will prevent these bacteria from 
getting into the milk. If the bacteria are kept out, 
the milk will keep sweet for a long time. Heating it 



122 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



to the temperature of 150 degrees kills these germs, 
and is one common way of keeping milk sweet. 

Necessary Precautions. — The milker should see to 
it that his hands are clean. Before sitting down to 




Open. 





Closed. •frr:r:^?i^^^ 

A BABCOCK TESTER. A CREAM SEPARATOR. 

milk he should carefully brush from the cow all dust, 
dirt, dandruff and loose hair likely to fall into the 
pail. He should have his milking clothes frequently 
washed and scalded to destroy the bacteria thereon, 
and he should remove the milk to a clean place, where 
the air is pure and free from bacteria, as soon as he 



THE DAIRY 



123 



possibly can. Aerating the milk — that is, allowing it 
to drain slowly through a strainer placed several feet 
above the can, where pure air can blow through it as 
it falls — will do much to remove any bad odors it may 
already contain. Pails and cans should be kept scru- 
pulously clean. They should be rinsed with boiling 
water after each milking to kill all bacteria that may 




A MODEL cow BARN. 
(Edgewood Farm.) 



adhere to them. If little particles of milk are allowed 
to stick to the rough places in the cans and pails, it is 
impossible to keep milk sweet in them, because the 
bacteria live and multiply in these particles. As soon 
as pure milk is placed in such utensils, these germs at 
once begin their rapid increase, and the milk spoils 
in a few hours. The whole secret of keeping milk 



124 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

sweet lies in preventing the bacteria from getting 
into it. 

Selection of the Herd. — Next in importance to the 
care of the milk comes the selection of the herd. Since 
most creameries and cheese factories now pay by the 
test — that is, pay for the amount of butter-fat that 
the milk contains — it is important to the dairyman that 
his milk tests well, and that his cows give a reasonably 
large flow of milk. In general, no cow is profitable to 
the dairyman whose milk tests much less than 3 per 
cent of butter-fat. Neither is one which gives less 
than twelve pounds of milk daily, no matter how rich 
it is. Every farmer should own a small Babcock tester 
and test every cow in his herd. Such a tester, with 
directions and complete outfit for testing milk, can be 
bought for six or seven dollars. Each cow in the herd 
should be tested, her milk carefully weighed and her 
dairy value figured out. All unprofitable cows should 
be disposed of. The best cows in the herd may then 
be kept for breeding purposes. In this way the herd 
will be greatly improved and dairying made much more 
profitable. 

Experimental Study of Milk. 

In all comparisons of milk, samples should be taken 
under the same conditions and set at exactly the same 
depth. Test tubes are most convenient for experi- 
ments with milk. If bottles are used they should be 
tall and slender, and as nearly the same size as pos- 
sible. Sample bottles should never be filled above the 



THE DAIRY 125 

point where the bottle begins to narrow towards the 
neck. 

1. Compare samples of milk from different cows, 
noting the color. 

2. Follow directions given above in the prepara- 
tion of samples. Set them aside in a cool place for 
twenty-four hours. Compare the thickness of the 
cream layers, being careful not to disturb the milk. 
Measure the cream with a rule. Which is the richest 
milk? What color was it when first set? What is 
always the color of very rich milk? What is the color 
of poor milk? 

3. Take a sample of the first milk drawn from a 
cow, and another sample of the ''strippings" from the 
same cow. Place these samples in separate bottles, 
being careful to fill the bottles to exactly the same 
depth. Note the color of each. Set them aside in a 
cool place for twenty-four hours and then compare the 
thickness of the cream layers. 

4. After a quantity of milk has stood in a can for 
thirty minutes, take a sample from the top of the can. 
Then plunge the dipper to the bottom and get a sample 
from near the bottom of the can. Place these sam- 
ples in bottles as before, note the color, and set aside 
for the cream to rise. Compare the thickness of the 
cream layers at the end of twenty-four hours. Which 
is the richer? Explain. 

5. Take two samples of milk from the same sup- 
ply, under the same conditions. Set one in a very 
cool place and the other in a warm place, for a few 



126 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

hours, and compare the thickness of the cream layers. 
Set aside for a few hours and compare again. What 
difference do you observe? 

6. Into an unwashed bottle in which milk has been 
allowed to sour place a sample of fresh, sweet milk. 
Into another bottle that has been carefully cleaned 
and scalded place another sample from the same sup- 
ply. Set the samples side by side in a warm room and 
smell and taste them at intervals of from four to six 
hours. Record definitely the differences in preserva- 
tion of the two samples. 

7. Take two samples from the same supply of 
fresh, sweet milk, and place them in dishes that have 
been carefully cleaned and scalded. Set one dish over 
night in the barn, or in some other place where the 
air is filled with bad odors. Set the other sample in 
the open air or in a well ventilated place where there 
can be no bad odors. Smell and taste of both next 
morning. Has the bad odor affected the taste or odor 
of the milk? From this experiment what do you 
infer regarding the effects of bad air upon milk to be 
used in making butter, or cheese, or for any other 
purpose ? 

Free Bulletins, XT. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

Farmers' Bulletins. 

No. 29. — Souring of Milk and Other Changes in Milk 
Products. 

No. 42. — Facts about Milk. 

No. 55.— The Dairy Herd: Its Formation and Management. 

No. 57. — Butter Making on the Farm. 



THE DAIRY 127 

No. 63.^Care of Milk on the Farm. 

No. 151. — Dairying in the South. 

No. 166. — Cheese Making on the Farm. 

No. 201. — The Cream Separator on Western Farms. 

Definition. — A per cent is a fraction whose de- 
nominator is 100. Thus: i-ioo is i per cent, 2-100 
is 2 per cent, 5-100 is 5 per cent, and so on. There are 
three ways of writing per cents, thus : 2-100 = .02 = 
2%. They all mean exactly the same thing. 

Problems. 

1. How many pounds of butter- fat in 5,000 pounds 
of milk that tests 4 per cent? 

2. A farmer owns a herd of 15 cows that average 
24 pounds of milk per head daily. How many pounds 
of milk does he get in six months (thirty days each) ? 

3. If this milk tests 3.5 per cent, and butter- fat is 
worth 25 cents per pound, what does he receive 
monthly for his milk ? How much per head ? 

4. A farmer has a herd of 20 cows. The milk for 
the week weighs as follows: 420 lbs., 418 lbs., 408 
lbs., 422 lbs., 417 lbs., 432 lbs. and 423 lbs., respec- 
tively. It tests 5 per cent of butter-fat, the price of 
which is 30 cents per pound. How much do the cows 
average per head in money for this week ? 

5. A farmer hauls 43,250 lbs. of milk that tests 
3.8 per cent to a factory. The price of butter-fat is 
26 cents per pound. How much money should he 
receive ? 



128 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

6. A farmer owns six cows : Bess, Spot, Brindle, 
Bos, Kate and Red. 



Bess gives 22 lbs. of milk daily, which tests 3.* 

Spot gives 15 lbs. of milk daily, which tests 4.2%, 

Brindle gives 30 lbs. of milk daily, which tests 3.0%, 

Bos gives 20 lbs. of milk daily, which tests 3.5%, 

Kate gives 14 lbs. of milk daily, which tests 3.2%, 

Red gives 24 lbs. of milk daily, which tests 5.2%. 

Figure out the dairy value of each. Which is the 
best cow? The poorest one? Classify them in order 
of dairy value. 

7. Figure out the number of pounds of milk given 
by each cow in a month, and the value of it in butter- 
fat at 25 cents per pound. 

8. Two herds of ten cows each are compared : 
The Jerseys average 18 lbs. of milk each daily; the 
Holstein-Freisians average 30 lbs. of milk each daily. 
The Jerseys test 5.4 per cent; the Holstein-Friesians 
test 3.2 per cent. Which is the more valuable herd? 

9. With butter-fat at 30 cents per pound, what is 
the monthly average per cow of each herd ? 

10. Pupils will furnish actual data from home for 
other dairy problems. 



CHAPTER XVII 

POULTRY 

Profit in Poultry-Raising. — There is no department 
of diversified farming that yields larger returns for 
the labor and money expended than the poultry yard, 
if properly handled. No farmer tries to get along 
without chickens, and many farmers' wives and chil- 
dren are made happy by the revenue derived from a 
flock of turkeys, ducks or geese. But poultry-raising 
has not been given sufficient attention on many Amer- 
ican farms. There is no more wholesome or nutritious 
article of food than eggs, and by most people poultry 
is highly esteemed as an article of diet. There is a 
steady demand for fresh eggs, and well-fattened young 
fowls always bring a high price in the market. On 
many farms the money received from the sale of 
eggs and poultry amounts to several hundred dollars 
annually. 

The labor involved in this industry is of a kind that 
can easily be done by women and children. The feed 
required is raised on every farm, and the necessary 
buildings are cheap and easily built. All these factors 
tend to make poultry-raising very profitable when 
thoughtfully and intelligently pursued. 



130 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

Care of Poultry. — If necessary, chickens may be 
confined to somewhat narrow Hmits, but ducks, geese 
and turkeys usually thrive best when given free range 
of the farm. The reason for this is plain. Fowls are 
insect and seed eaters, and, when allowed to roam, 
select the kinds of insects and seeds wdiich they like 
best. But, when kept in confinement, man forces them 
to eat the things he provides; and, unless a special 
study has been made of poultry foods, they may not 
always be the ones the fowls themselves would select. 
Again, as has been said in another chapter, if hens are 
to lay eggs, they must be fed egg-producing foods. 
If confined they should have constant access to a box 
of grits, oyster shells, gravel, lime, charcoal, sand, 
ground bone, and the like, to be used in grinding their 
food, and out of which to make eggshells. They 
should be fed meat scraps, skim-milk, barley, refuse 
from the table, and other foods rich in protein out of 
which to make eggs. In winter time, green foods like 
cabbage, turnips, and silage should be given to them. 

Foods. — To repeat wdiat has been said in another 
place : "Nature has provided in summer proper foods 
for most farm animals, and the nearer summer condi- 
tions can be duplicated the greater will be the farmer's 
success." The winter food of chickens should, there- 
fore, consist of four kinds — minerals, which they get 
by scratching in summer; meat, to take the place of 
summer insects ; grains ; and green foods. Ungrate- 
ful, indeed, would be the hen who did not respond to 
this diet with a liberal return of eQ:^s. 



POULTRY 



131 



Insects as Food for Fowls. — One other fact in con- 
nection with the food of fowls is deserving of special 
emphasis here. Since their food consists so largely 
of seeds and insects, it is quite evident that they are 
worth all it costs to keep them in the assistance which 
they give to the farmer in devouring seeds of weeds 
and in holding insect pests in check. 




HEN HONORS. 



The Poultry House. — Like other farm animals, 
fowls must be protected from cold and storms. Their 
houses should be large, light, airy, clean, and dry. 
Chickens should have a ''scratching place" where they 
can get to dry dirt and scratch and wallow in it. Dust 
acts as a sort of insect powder, filling up the insect's 
breathing pores, and thus keeps the chickens free from 
lice. It is important that chickens have plenty of exer- 



132 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

cise, and this they can get in winter if they have a 
warm and dry place where they can go to scratch. It 
is a common practice among poultry raisers to force 
them to scratch for their food by strewing it over a 
floor thickly covered with chaff or short straw. 

Cleanliness in Care of Poultry. — Poultry houses 
should be frequently cleaned and whitewashed to keep 
them free from bad odors and vermin. They should 
be well lighted by a row of windows, placed along the 
south side, and they should be built sufficiently warm 
to prevent the freezing of the chickens' combs and feet. 
Above all else, they should be kept perfectly dry to 
avoid disease. 

Laying Qualities of Poultry. — In the wild state, the 
hen laid but one setting of a dozen or fifteen eggs a 
year. This UAimber has been greatly increased by 
domestication until the "two-hundred-egg-a-year" hen 
is considered an easy possibility by many poultry rais- 
ers. If farmers will use care in selecting only the eggs 
from the most prolific layers for setting, they can, 
without doubt, greatly improve the laying qualities of 
their flock. Much, however, depends upon the selec- 
tion of a breed. 

Varieties of Foods. — The variety selected for farm 
use will depend largely upon the purpose for which 
the fowls are grown. There are some varieties espe- 
cially desirable for their laying qualities, others are 
adapted to the needs of the early spring chicken mar- 
ket, and still others which may be called general pur- 
pose fowls. The intelligent farmer informs himself as 



POULTRY 



133 



to the respective merits of the several breeds and 
selects the one best adapted to his needs. What is 
true in the selection of a variety of chickens is equally 
true of turkeys, ducks and geese and is left to the 
intelligent action of the farmer without further com- 
ment here. The bulletins named below will be of great 




GOOD MATERIAL FOR A PRODUCE ACCOUNT. 

value to the poultry raiser in making his selection and 
will give him other assistance and direction in the care 
and management of his poultry. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

Farmers* Bulletins. 

No. 51. — Standard Varieties of Chickens. 

No. 64. — Ducks and Geese, Breeds, and Management. 

No. 141. — Poultry Raising on the Farm. 



134 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

No. 177. — Squab Raising. 

No. 200. — Turkeys, Varieties, and Management. 

Prolblems. 

1. A flock of 60 hens average 80 eggs a year each. 
With eggs worth 1 5 cents per dozen, what is the vakie 
of these eggs? 

2. How many bushels of corn will this buy at 40 
cents per bushel? Of oats at 25 cents? 

3. Suppose it takes only 12 bushels of corn, 5 
bushels of oats and $7 worth of other food to keep 
this flock for one year, besides what they pick up for 
themselves. What is the profit over and above the 
cost of the feed? 

4. What would have been the profit if they had 
laid 120 eggs each, instead of 80? 

5. Ask pupils to furnish data for at least twenty 
other similar problems. 



CHAPTER XX 

SPECIAL CROPS 

Four Special Crops. — There are a few special crops, 
which, because of their increasing importance in agri- 
cuhure, demand our attention. Four of these will be 
considered in this chapter — tobacco, soy beans, pota- 
toes and truck crops. All of these crops are grown in 
the United States today, but, with the exception of 
potatoes, not in sufficient quantities to supply the de- 
mand. Until we do raise enough for home consump- 
tion, these crops will yield larger returns to the farmer 
than the other crops grown on the farm. 

TOBACCO. 

Tobacco a Heavy Feeder. — As we have already 
learned, tobacco is a heavy feeder and hard on the 
soil. With every crop of tobacco sold off the farm 
about twice as much fertility is removed as with any 
grain crop that the farmer raises for market. But we 
have agreed that grain farming does not pay. How 
much more unprofitable, then, is it for the farmer to 
raise tobacco extensively. There is but one way in 
which he can keep up the fertility of his soil, and that 



136 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



is by the use of commercial fertilizers. In this way 
soil matter is bought and brought back to the farm to 
take the place of that sold with the tobacco. Extensive 
experiments have been made at the different agricul- 
tural stations to determine the kind and amount of 




A TYPICAL TOBACCO FIELD. 
(Oconto County, Wisconsin.) 

these fertiliers to use. The results show that they are 
even better than barnyard manure for this crop. The 
only way that the farmer can find out the kind and 
amount best adapted to his soil is by careful experi- 
ment. It must be remembered, however, that com- 
mercial fertilizers tend to harden the soil, while barn- 
yard manure improves its texture. 



SPECIAL CROPS 157 

Kind of Soil Required. — Tobacco requires fertile, 
well-drained soil, rich in humus. Not every soil will 
grow good tobacco. Even on the same farm, places 
are found which seem to be especially adapted to its 
growth. Herein another danger lies. The farmer is 
likely to grow tobacco, year after year, on this same 
piece of land until its fertility is exhausted, or else he 
has robbed the rest of his farm by putting all of his 
fertilizers on his tobacco land. Again, such conditions 
make crop rotation impracticable. 

Cidtivation. — Moreover, tobacco requires thorough 
cultivation and careful attention in harvesting and cur- 
ing. These things are best learned by actual practice, 
and a discussion of them is beyond the province of this 
book. 

Tobacco Regions of Tennessee. — In 1908 Tennessee 
ranked fourth in total production and fourteenth in 
yield per acre of tobacco. Montgomery, Robertson, 
and Greene are the principal tobacco producing coun- 
ties of the state. 

SOY BEANS. 

The soy bean, or soja bean, is a comparatively new 
crop in Tennessee, and its great value as a forage plant 
should induce every farmer to grow it, especially 
where red clover fails. It is very rich in protein, gives 
a heavy yield of both forage and grain, and being a 
legume, improves the nitrogen content of the soil. On 





3 




o 






d 


D* 


2 

1— ( 


H^ 


<! 




H 


o 


W 


^ 


rn 




hH 


(/v 


H 


o 


Hi 


^ 


O 




"^ 


&3 




D 


H 


W 


H 


> 


^ 


•-•i 




■-s 


02 

03 


^ 


M 


3 


H 


0) 




■-5 




w 




p 




-J 








fD 




<< 




SPECIAL CROPS 159 

all soils of average fertility it grows well without fer- 
tilizers. When the soil is poor an acid phosphate and 
potash mixture should be given at the rate of 200 to 
400 lbs. per acre. Medium early varieties when 
planted in the early part of May can be harvested late 
in August, and can be followed by wheat or other 
winter cereal, which will provide winter pasturage and 
protect the soil from erosion, and also furnish grain. 

Cultivation. — Soy beans should be sown in drills 
just wide enough apart to permit of tillage. They do 
not do as well as cowpeas when sown broadcast, or 
drilled like wheat. As they grow very rapidly they 
seldom require more than three cultivations. 

For either hay or seed they should be cut when the 
lowest pods begin to turn. If allowed to stand until 
fully mature the pods burst open and most of the 
seed is lost. They are cured with some difficulty, as 
the stems are heavy, and, like cowpeas, the leaves fall 
easily. A rack made by wiring four poles together 
at the top, and spreading them tent fashion, wiring 
poles cross-wise near the base, is a cheap and good 
device for curing both soy beans and cowpeas. 

Feeding Value. — In a comparison of the feeding 
value of soy beans, cowpeas, and corn at the Ten- 
nessee Experiment Station, in which both the forage 
and grain of the plants was fed to steers, the greatest 
gain was made on soy beans, and the least on corn. 



i6o ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

POTATOES. 

The Best Soil for Potatoes. — Potatoes of the best 
quality are grown on light sandy land, rich in humus. 
Heavy clay soils do not give way readily as the pota- 
toes increase in size, hence will produce smaller pota- 
toes. 

Potatoes should be planted about four inches deep, 
in rows three feet apart, and about eighteen inches 
apart in the row. Extensive experiments, carried on 
by the different agricultural stations, show that the 
seed potatoes should be cut in halves or quarters. 
When the price of seed potatoes is very high, they 
may be cut in smaller pieces of as nearly equal size as 
possible. No bad results have come from planting 
small potatoes, though one would naturally think that 
small potatoes, used as seed, would give small potatoes 
in return. It must be remembered, however, that the 
potato is not a seed, but an underground stem, and 
that it does not bear the same relation to the crop that 
the seed does. Like the seed, it serves as a storehouse 
for the growing plant, and if the pieces are of sufficient 
size to furnish this food matter, the next crop will 
not be affected by the size of the potato planted. 

Insects and Diseases. — The Colorado potato beetle 
is the most troublesome potato insect. It can be most 
easily killed by spraying with 3 lbs. of arsenate of lead 
mixed with 50 gallons of water, or four ounces of 
Paris green mixed with the same amount of water. 



SPECIAL CROPS i6i 

Either poison can be added to Bordeaux Mixture, 
which is a remedy for a fungus disease of the potato 
called potato rot, potato wilt, or blight. Scab is a 
common disease of the potato, causing the tubers to 
become rough in spots, and when badly infested mak- 
ing the potato small and unsalable. The remedy is a 
solution of formaldehyde. (See page 104.) 

Double Cropping Potatoes. — In some parts of Ten- 
nessee two crops of potatoes a year can be grown. 
An early variety, as the Triumph, is used. The land 
should be very rich and 1,200 lbs. per acre of high 
grade fertilizer can be used with profit on the potato 
crop. 

The first crop is planted in February or March, and 
high tillage is given to make the plants grow rapidly. 
It is harvested in June and the same land is planted 
with seed of the first crop. For best results the tubers 
used for seed must be as mature as possible. Some 
growers hasten maturity by digging early and placing 
the tubers in deep layers in the shade of a tree for 
two weeks. The most important point of success with 
the second crop is to have fresh soil in contact with 
the seed at planting time, and to prevent drying. In 
a dry season it is best to open a single furrow^ at a 
time, drop and cover the potatoes before another 
furrow is made. If the tubers are planted in dry soil 
they will remain dormant until moisture is provided, 
and sometimes this causes an entire loss of crop. 

The second crop is usually the smaller but brings 
a higher price, as it is sold for seed. 



i62 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

TRUCK CROPS. 

Vegetables grown for market are called truck crops. 
Many Tennessee farmers are finding "truck farming" 
more profitable than any other. The advantage of the 
truck crop is that it is sold early, bringing money when 
other crops are not mature. In almost all cases truck- 
ing is best combined with general farming. Tomatoes, 
cabbage, strawberries, and cantaloupes are the prin- 
cipal truck crops of Tennessee. Salad onions, spinach, 
beans, sweet corn, asparagus, peas, and table beets 
have also been found profitable. West Tennessee pro- 
duces far more truck than any other part of the state, 
but truck growing is rapidly spreading to almost every 
section of the state. 

Profitable Truck Crops. — Most profit is made from 
early vegetables, hence a light, quick soil is preferred, 
since such soils warm readily in the spring of the year, 
producing an early crop. As all truck crops are sold 
and not fed, they are hard on the land, and require 
heavy applications of fertilizers. Such crops as cab- 
bage and tomatoes should be followed by cowpeas to 
be plowed into the soil, thus restoring the humus taken 
by the crop. A careful rotation, so planned as to in- 
sure each year a heavy cover crop to be plowed in, will 
improve the soil for truck crops. The reason why 
cabbage and tomatoes succeed best on bottom lands 
is because such soils are rich in humus. Uplands in 
many cases can be made better for early truck than 
bottom lands because they are better drained, and 



SPECIAL CROPS 163 



a 



warm up" more quickly in spring. But they are not 
used because they lack humus. 

Every truck crop demands special treatment, and 
details cannot be given here, but the Department of 
Agriculture has issued bulletins on these special crops, 
some of which are listed below. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

Farmers' Bulletins. 

No. 35.— Potato Culture. 

No, 354. — Onion Culture. 

No. 52. — The Sugar Beet. 

No. 60. — Methods of Curing Tobacco. 

No. 82. — The Cuhure of Tobacco. 

No. 83. — Tobacco Soils. 

No. 120. — The Principal Insect Affecting the Tobacco Plant. 

No. 129.— Sweet Potatoes. 

No. 61. — Asparagus. 

No. 94. — Cabbage. 

No. 220. — Tomato. 

No. 282.— Celery. 

No. 359. — Canning Vegetables. 

Tennessee Experiment Station Bulletins. 
No. 82. — The Soy Bean. 

Problems. 

1. How many tobacco plants will be required to 
set an acre in rows three feet apart, the plants two 
feet apart in the row? 

2. Tobacco is usually strung on laths to be cured. 
With twelve stalks to the lath, how many laths will 
be needed per acre? 



144 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE- 

3. If the stalks need four feet of vertical space and 
the laths are hung one foot apart in the shed, how 
many cubic feet of shed room will be required to house 
an acre of tobacco ? 

4. Give dimensions of a shed for five acres of 
tobacco. 

5. If the average weight of seed potatoes is four 
ounces each, and if they are cut in halves and planted 
in rows three feet apart and eigheten inches apart in 
the row, how many bushels of seed will be required 
per acre? 

6. How many bushels will be needed if whole 
potatoes are used? Quarters? Eighths? 

7. A sugar factory agrees to pay $4.50 per ton for 
all beets testing 14 per cent, or less, of sugar. They 
also agree to give an additional 25 cents per ton for 
each additional i per cent of sugar or fraction thereof 
over 14 per cent, if the fraction exceeds one-half 
per cent. What is the price of beets testing 13.7 per 
cent? 14 per cent? 14.3 per cent? 14.7 per cent? 
15 per cent? 15.2 per cent? 15.6 per cent? 15.8 per 
cent ? 

8. Mr. Smith's beets yield fourteen tons per acre 
and test 15 per cent. How much does he get per acre 
for his crop? 

9. On two acres of ground Mr. Jones raises 73,680 
pounds of beets which test 14.8 per cent. How much 
do his beets bring him in money per acre? 

10. If Mr. Jones spends $56 worth of labor on 
his crop of beets, what is his net profit per acre? 



SPECIAL CROPS 



145 



11. How many onion plants will be required to set 
an acre in rows two feet apart, plants four inches 
apart in the row ? 

12. If a boy can set nine plants per minute, how 
long will it take him to set them? 

13. If these onions average four ounces each, how 
many bushels are raised on an acre? If they average 
six ounces? Twelve ounces? One pound? 

14. What is the value of the crop in each case, at 
60 cents per bushel? 

15. If it requires fifty days of a boy's time, worth 
75 cents per day, to raise an acre of onions, what will 
be his profit on an acre of four-ounce onions ? 

16. Select seven potatoes as nearly the same size 
and shape as possible, from the same hill or similar 
hills. Cut one potato into four pieces and plant each 
piece in a hill; this will make four hills. Mark these 
four hills "Plat No. i." Cut the next two potatoes 
lengthwise into halves; plant each half in a hill and 
mark these four "Plat No. 2." Plant the remaining 
four potatoes whole, each one in a hill, and mark these 
"Plat No. 3." Give the same care and cultivation to 
each plat and, when they have matured, dig all the 
potatoes carefully and weigh the yield from each plat 
and tabulate as follows : 





Amount of Seed 
Planted 


No. Pounds of 
Yield 


Net Profit 


Plat No. 1 


4 oz. 






Plat No. 2 


8 oz. 






Plat No. 3 


16 oz. 







17. Pupils will furnish data for other similar prob- 
lems. 



CHAPTER XIX 



FAKM BUILDINGS 



Number and Kinds of Buildings. — That good, sub- 
stantial buildings are needed on every farm goes with- 
out saying. The number and kind, of course, vary 
with the size and location of the farm, and the special 
crops raised thereon. But a good house, barn, gran- 
ary, silo, carriage and tool house are almost indis- 
pensable on every farm. 

Attention to Arrangement. — Usually too little at- 
tention is given to the arrangement of these buildings, 
and, when they once have been placed, it is next to 
impossible to correct the bad effect of poor arrange- 
ment. The barn in front of the house, or on the wind- 
ward side of it, the hog house in front of the house, 
the barnyard between the house and the barn, the 
carriage house opening into the barnyard, and the 
vegetable garden in the dooryard, are some of the 
common mistakes. 

Location of the House. — The location of the house 
should receive first attention. It should be placed on 
an elevation sufficient to afford good drainage, four 
or five rods back from the road, leaving room for a 



FARM BUILDINGS 



147 



nice lawn in front. The barn should be placed at one 
side and farther back from the road. If possible, it 
should be so located that the prevailing wind will carry 
the barn odors away from the house. The barnyard 







noAxi 



M^KU ' VLII^ il g» i LMVmUUH ' -V ^ 



FARM BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS NEATLY AND CON- 
VENIENTLY ARRANGED. 

should be in the rear of the barn so that the view 
from the house will be unobstructed by high board 
fences, stables or sheds. A drive should lead from 
the road to the barn, and the horse stable and car- 
riage house should open onto this drive, so that the 



148 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



farmer and bis sons will not be compelled to pass 
through the barnyard every time they hitch up a 
team. A walk of cinders, gravel or sand should lead 
from the house to the barn. Such a walk is cheap, 
easily built, and will always be clean and compara- 
tively dry. The vegetable garden can be placed any- 




FILLING THE SILO. 



where in the rear, near the house, where it will be 
convenient. The logical place for the well is between 
the barn and the house, where it can be used for both 
places, but not too near the barn. The silo should 
be attached to or near the barn, and, of course, the 
granary should be near by. Tool houses, tobacco 
sheds and all other outbuildings should be kept well 



FARM BUILDINGS 



149 



back from the road, so as not to obstruct the view 
from the house. 

The Construction of Buildings. — But Httle need be 
said about the construction of farm buildings. The 
careful farmer will adapt the buildings to the size of 
the farm, and his own special 
needs. The silo is the one 
farm building, however, that 
needs the most careful con- 
struction. The importance 
of silage as a feeding stuff 
is growing more apparent, 
but silage will not keep well 
in a poorly constructed silo. 
Whatever the type of silo 
the farmer chooses to build, 
four things must be ob- 
served : It must be air- 
tight, strong, perfectly 
smooth on the inside and 
placed on a strong, solid 
foundation. 

The Silo. — The silo must 
be air-tight, because the air 
contains germs that will set 
to work upon the silage and cause it to spoil and 
decay. Silage is something like canned fruit, in 
this respect. The silo must be strong, because the 
green feed with which it is filled is very heavy and 
solidly packed down. This exerts a tremendous 




SILO, VERTICAL SECTION. 

General plan for wood, 
brick, stone or cement silo. 
V — Ventilator. D — Doors, S— 
Air spaces, F — Stone founda- 
tion, C — Cement floor. 

When the silo is attached 
to the barn, the feeding and 
filling doors are usually placed 
on opposite sides, the feed- 
ing doors opening into the 
barn. 



I50 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

side pressure which will spring or burst the walls 
of a poorly constructed silo and admit air, 
causing the silage to spoil. It must be perfectly 
smooth on the inside, because silage should settle 
evenly. Projections, or rough places on the inner 
walls of a silo, will prevent this even settling, cause 
dead air spaces, which spoil the silage. It must rest 
on a strong, solid foundation, because the side pres- 
sure and weight at the bottom are very great. This 
pressure may burst a heavy stone wall — and the great 
weight will cause a silo placed on a poor foundation 
to settle out of shape and crack the walls. 

Silage Is a Satisfactory Feed. — If this building is so 
constructed as to provide for sufficient ventilation and 
to prevent freezing, and proper care is used in filling 
the silo, the silage will be a very satisfactory feed to 
use on the farm. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

No. 32. — Silos and Silage. 

No. 126. — Practical Suggestions for Farm Buildings. 

Measurements. 
Rules. 

1. To find the area of a triangle multiply the base by one-half 
the height. 

2. To find the circumference of a circle multiply the diameter 
by 3 1-7. 

3. To find the area of a circle multiply the square of the 
radius by 3 1-7. 

4. The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to 
the sum of the squares of the other sides. 

Note: Make a drawing before attempting to solve any of the 
following problems. 



FARM BUILDINGS 151 

Problems. 

1. How many feet of inch lumber will be required 
to build a pig pen six feet wide, four feet from peak 
to ground, and eight feet long ? ( See rules i and 4. ) 

2. How many feet of inch lumber will be needed 
to board up the gables of a barn thirty feet wide, the 
peaks being twelve feet above the eaves? 

3. How much lumber will it take to cover a corn 
crib with four-inch slats, placed one inch apart, the 
crib being twenty-four feet long, six feet wide at the 
bottom, eight feet at the top, eight feet to the eaves, 
and the peak three feet above the eaves? 

4. How long will the rafters need to be for this 
crib if they are to project one foot? How many feet 
of 2x4 rafters will be required if they are placed two 
feet apart? 

5. How many feet of 2x4 studding will be needed 
if they are placed the same distance apart? How 
many feet of roof boards will be required if they are 
allowed to project one foot at each end? 

6. How many cubic feet must a bin contain in or- 
der to hold a thousand bushels? Make a list of con- 
venient dimensions for such a bin. 

7. How many feet of two-inch plank will be re- 
quired to build a cylindrical tank fourteen feet across 
and two feet deep? What will be the cost of the 
lumber at $30 per thousand? 

8. How many feet of band iron will it require to 
make three hoops for this tank ? 



152 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

9. How many feet of inch lumber will be required 
to cover the inner wall of a "round" silo twenty-one 
feet across and eighteen feet high? How many 
feet of two-inch plank will be needed for a cover? 
What will be the cost of all this lumber at $25 per 
thousand ? 

10. What will it cost to put a cement floor in this 
silo at 10 cents per square foot? 

11. How many 2x4 studdings eighteen feet long 
and placed one foot apart will be required, and what 
will be their cost at $24 per thousand? 

1 2. What will it cost for the lumber to floor a barn 
forty by sixty feet with two and one-half inch plank 
at $18 per thousand? 

13. The peak of this barn is twelve feet higher 
than the eaves. What will inch lumber for sheeting 
the gables cost at $24 per thousand. 

14. The rafters are made of 2x4, and twenty-seven 
feet long, placed eighteen inches apart. How much 
will they cost at $20 per thousand ? 

15. What will be the cost of the sheeting for the 
roof at $16 per thousand if the roof projects two feet 
at each end? 

16. What will it cost to shingle this roof with 
shingles worth $3.25 per thousand, laying them five 
inches to the weather and allowing for a double course 
at the eaves? 

17. This building is placed on a wall twelve inches 
thick and eight feet high. What is the cost of the 
stone for same at $5 per cord? 



FARM BUILDINGS 153 

18. What will it cost to fence a field sixty rods 
long and forty-five rods wide with a five wire fence, 
posts one rod apart, worth 5 cents each, staples 6 
cents per pound (200 to the pound), wire weighing 
one pound to the rod, worth $4.50 per cwt., and labor 
amounting to $6? 

19. What will it cost to build a five board fence 
around the same field, using twelve-foot boards, six 
inches wide, and worth $16 per thousand, posts 5 
cents each, nails and labor, $15? 

20. Pupils make and solve similar problems from 
data taken from actual conditions. 



CHAPTER XX 



FARM ACCOUNTS 



Keeping Accounts. — There are times when every 
farmer needs to keep accounts. Sometimes it is de- 
sirable to know just how much cash is received and 
paid out during the year. A simple cash account 
will show this. All kinds of accounts require two 
columns. These columns may be placed side by side 
at the right of the page, or the page may be divided 
with double ruling down its center, or two separate 
pages, facing each other, may be used. Whichever 
kind of ruling is used, the accounts are all kept in 
exactly the same way. The divided page method is 
used in this book. 

Cash Accounts. — In keeping a cash account the word 
CASH is first written across the top of the page. All 
cash received is placed in the cash space in the left 
hand side, and all cash paid out is placed in the cash 
space in the right hand side. At the extreme left of 
each side the date is placed, and between the date and 
the cash space the item, for which cash has been re- 
ceived or paid, is written. The total amount of cash 
received, or paid out, is easily found by adding the 



FARM ACCOUNTS 



155 



amounts on each side, and the difference of these two 
sums represents the cash on hand. Cash on hand 
should be carried over into the received side at the 
top of the next page, when any page is filled up with 
entries. If it is desired, the totals may be carried 
over into their respective columns instead, and the 
new page kept in exactly the same way as the pre- 
ceding page. This is all there is in keeping a cash 
account. It is a very simple and easy thing to do. 
For example : 

CASH. 



Date 1905 


Item 


Rec'd 


Date 1905 


Item 


Paid 


Jan 


i 


Cash on hand . 


$ 24 


40 


Jan. 


2 


Groceries 


$3 


00 


Jan. 


8 


For hogs 


102 


75 


Jan. 


15 


For coal 


14 


40 








Jan. 


30 


For butter .... 


42 


84 


Jan. 


17 


For books 


5 


00 


Feb. 


1 


For eggs 


2 


25 


Jan. 


20 


For overcoat,... 


12 


00 












Feb. 


1 


For rubbers 




75 



Study the above illustration, determine how much 
cash is on hand Feb. i, 1905, and on a blank sheet of 
paper, open up a new page in both ways as described 
above. Submit your work to your teacher to find out 
whether you are correct. 

Personal Accounts. — A personal account is kept in 
exactly the same way as a cash account. The name 
of the person is first written across the top of the 



156 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



page. Whenever this person receives anything from 
the one keeping the account, this entry is made in the 
left hand side under the word debtor, and whenever 
he pays anything on this account, this entry is made 
in the right hand side under the word creditor, exactly 
the same as with a cash account. The dates and items 
are written in their proper places, which are the same 
as those for cash accounts. For example : 









JOHN 


SMITH. 








Date 1905 


Item 


Dr. 


Date 1905 


Item 


Cr. 


Sopt. 


22 


Tolpig 


$12 


50 


Oct. 


3 


By 3 days' work. 


$4 


50 












Oct. 


10 


By cash 


2 


00 


















Oct. 


25 


By 1 days' work. 


1 


50 























Suppose that on Sept. 22, 1905, you sell a pig to 
John Smith for $12.50, for which he agrees to pay 
either in money or in labor at $1.50 per day. He 
works on Oct. i, 2 and 3. On Oct. 10 he pays $2 in 
cash, and on Oct. 25 he works another day. The 
account is kept in this manner. 

This account shows, in a brief manner, a complete 
history of this transaction. It gives all dates, which 
are of great importance in all accounts. It shows that 
John Smith owes you $12.50 for a pig, that he has 
already paid you $8 in labor and cash, and that he 



FARM ACCOUNTS 



157 



still owes you $4.50. When this is paid, it should 
be entered under the other items in the credit column, 
both columns added and the account closed by drawing 
two lines across the page below the account, like this : 









JOHN 


SMITH. 








Date ino5 


Item 


Dr. 


Date 1905 


Item 


Cr. 


Sept. 


22 


Tolpig 


$12 


50 


Oct. 


3 


By 3 days' work. 


$4 


50 












Oct. 


10 


By cash 


2 


00 


















Oct. 25 


By 1 day's work. 


1 


50 












Oct. 


30 


By bal. cash .... 


4 


50 








$12 


50 








$12 


50 



PRODUCE ACCOUNTS. 

Sometimes the farmer wishes to know his profits 
on his cows, tobacco, beets or other things produced 
on the farm. It often happens that his wife wants 
to keep account of her profits on berries or poultry. 
Such an account is called a produce account, and it 
is kept exactly like a personal account. Suppose that 
you want to keep an account of your chickens. The 
word CHICKENS is first written across the top of the 
page. Whenever the chickens receive anything from 
you like feed or coops, this entry is made in the left 
hand column under the word debtor. Whenever they 
pay you anything in the form of eggs or young chick- 



158 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



ens, this entry is made in the right hand cokimn under 
the word creditor. Study the following account: 



CHICKENS. 



Date 1905 


Item 


Dr. 


Date 1905 


Item 


Or. 


May 


1 


T* lumber for coops 


$ 3 


20 


May 


30 


By eggs for mo . . 


$2 


50 


June 


2 


To feed 




75 


June 


30 


By eggs for mo.. 


1 


80 


June 


30 


To corn meal.. 


2 


40 


July 


30 


By eggs for mo . . 


o 


10 


Aug. 


1 


To corn 


3 


00 


Oct. 


1 


By yeoni chickeos . ■ ■ 


6 00 

1 












Oct. 


1 


By youni chickens eat'o 


3 


00 


Oct. 


1 


Profit 


10 


05 


Oct. 


1 


By eggs eaten. .. 


4 


00 








$19 


40 








$19 40 



The above account shows that these chickens re- 
ceived from you a total of $9.35 in coops and feed, 
and that they paid you in eggs and young chickens, 
which you sold, and in other eggs and chickens, 
which you ate during the summer, a total of $19.40, 
giving you a profit of $10.05 '^^^ the investment. 

If farmers would form the habit of keeping ac- 
counts of their stock and their crops, much unprofit- 
able farming might be avoided, as attention would 
thus be directed to those products which, on the aver- 
age, 3'ield the largest returns for the labor and money 
expended. 



FARM ACCOUNTS 159 

Problems. 

1. A farmer's boy hires out to a neighbor for five 
months at $22 per month. He begins work April i, 
with $7.35 cash on hand. He receives his pay at the 
end of every month. April 2, he pays $2.75 for shoes. 
April 20, 25c for a straw hat. May 3, he spends 
$1.25 for a coat. May 31, he buys a colt for $42. 
July I, he pays $14.75 ^^r more clothing. July 4, he 
spends $2.35. July 20, he sells his colt for $55. 
August 15, he pays $6.50 for a watch, and, during 
the summer, he spends $4.85 for sundry small articles. 

Write out his account and determine how much 
cash he has on hand when his time is out. 

2. Two boys rent for $4 a half acre of land on 
which to plant onions. They allow themselves 75c 
each per day for their time. It costs them $2 to get 
this piece of land fertilized and plowed. They each 
spend ten days' time planting and cultivating their 
onions, and four days more each when harvesting 
time comes. They sell $14.30 worth of green onions, 
and harvest 142 bushels more. For 100 bushels they 
get 75c per bushel, and 60c per bushel for the re- 
mamder. 

Write out their onion account, and find their profit. 

3. A farmer runs an account with George White, 
a merchant. July 7, he buys a pair of shoes for $2.40 
and has them charged on account. July 20, he takes in 
twelve dozen of eggs at 11 cents per dozen and gets 
50c worth of sugar. August 3, he takes in twelve 
pounds of butter at 20 cents per pound and gets nine 



i6o ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

yards of calico at 6 cents per yard, one pound of tea 
at 50 cents, four pounds of coffee at 18 cents per 
pound, and a barrel of salt at $1.25. August 14, he 
gets a pail of fish at 75 cents and 100 pounds of sugar 
at 5J^ cents per pound, and pays $2 in cash. How 
does his account stand on August 15? 

Write out this account with Geo. White. 



CHAPTER XXI 



FORESTRY 



Importance of the Forest. — Next to the soil itself, 
no other part of the earth, or its furnishing, is of such 
importance to man as the forest. Indeed, without the 
forest, past and present, there would hardly be any 
tillable soil. But it is also our chief source of building 
material and of fuel. It is, moreover, the great gar- 
ment of the earth, protecting and adorning it. 

Nature of the Forest. — The forest is much more 
than a collection of independent trees ; it is a great 
organism, composed of many parts, or elements, each 
dependent on the others. It has a very complex and 
varied life, comprising not only trees and shrubs, but 
also herbs, flowers, mosses, lichens, birds, insects, and 
higher animals in great variety, all dependent for their 
very life upon their combination and mutual service, in 
the great living thing we call the forest. 

Inflnencc of the Forest. — The forest exercises a 
great influence upon the earth and its inhabitants out- 
side of the forest limits. It is often the source of 
streams, and controls the water supply of surrounding 
regions. It breaks the force of winds and tempers the 



1 62 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



climate. It supplies vegetable mold which is an in- 
dispensable element in fertile soil. And it affords 
recreation, and the highest forms of enjoyment to 
those who can get access to it. In short, the forest is 
one of man's greatest blessings, and yet it is the one 
which he has abused with most recklessness and 
ignorance. And in no part of the world has this reck- 
less waste been greater than in the United States, and 
especially in the North Central states. 














THE EDGE OF THE FUKEiST. 



Destruction of the Forests. — The forest was in- 
tended for use, but it was meant to serve man for 
ages, and not to be destroyed in the lifetime of a man. 
The great causes which have wrecked the forests and 
wiped them from the earth to so great an extent are 
(i) unwise and unregulated cutting by lumbermen, 
and (2) the prevalence of forest fires. These fires, 
occurring in seasons of drouth, are fed and made 



FORESTRY 163 

destructive by the brush and dead tree tops, left as 
wreckage on the ground, wherever logging has been 
carried on. The fires are often started by the criminal 
negligence of hunters and campers in not putting out 
all remains of their camp-fires, or in other careless 
ways. Some of these fires have done immense dam.- 
age to the standing forest, and have caused great dis- 
tress and loss of human life. Among the most destruc- 
tive of these are the great Peshtigo fire of 1871, in 
Northeastern Wisconsin, and the Hinckley fire of 
1894, in Minnesota. 

The Economic Use of the Forest. — The science and 
art of forestry has for its purpose the perpetuation 
and, at the same time, the economical utilization of the 
forest. It teaches men how to keep the forest alive 
by cutting out only the trees that have got their growth 
and are ripe, in such a way as not to injure or endanger 
the remaining growth. The younger trees are thus 
given more light and air and room to grow, while the 
undergrowth is also preserved. The "forest floor" of 
decaying leaves, rotten wood, and other debris is pre- 
served as a means of enriching the soil and, especially, 
of retaining moisture and preventing the rains from 
running ofif too quickly in surface wash and floods. 
Forestry also teaches the best ways of replanting, or 
''re-foresting," areas in which the timber has already 
been wastefully destroyed. This art of prudently man- 
aging timber lands, so as to keep up their blessings to 
their owners and others, has long been practiced in 
European countries, particularly in Germany, and has 



i64 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

proved of the greatest advantage. The people of the 
United States are just v^-aking up to the necessity of 
such a course, and the United States Department of 
Forestry is now doing excellent service in educating 
the people to greater intelligence and foresight in the 
management of such remnants of our once magnifi- 
cent forests as yet remain ; though v^e are reminded of 
the old saying about locking the stable door after the 
horse is stolen. The new policy of our government in 
setting off Forest Reserves in the unsold lands of the 
Western States, particularly in the mountain regions, 
deserves the earnest approval and support of all citi- 
zens interested in the future welfare of our country. 
Lumbermen, generally, have blindly followed the ex- 
ample of the woman who killed the goose that laid 
the golden eggs ; and the future good of our land ought 
not to be left longer at their mercy. 

The Wood Lot. — But we need not look upon for- 
estry as a matter which concerns only the far off 
forests of the North and West. Every farmer who 
has a "wood lot" left ought to understand its prin- 
ciples and apply them to his own possessions. 

Care of the Wood Lot. — The importance of caring 
for the farm wood lot cannot be too strongly empha- 
sized. When our country was new and land had to 
be cleared to make room for the crops, farmers cared 
little for timber and less for wood. Great trees were 
cut down and rolled into the log heap. Good material 
for lumber went up in smoke, and in those days no one 
ever thought of saving wood. But now all is changed. 



FORESTRY 165 

In many places the price of wood is exceedingly high. 
Good lumber is every year becoming harder to get. 
We have awakened to the fact that the farmer who 
has a wood lot on his farm has a valuable piece of 
property. 

Management of the Wood Lot. — A few acres of 
wood land, if properly managed, will furnish wood 
and other timber to the farmer for years to come. 
Now, what constitutes proper management of the 
wood lot? 

First, desirable young trees should be kept growing. 
Undesirable ones should be cut out and used for fuel 
or other purposes. 

Second, it is not, as a rule, a good plan to pasture 
the wood lot. Animals injure and destroy young 
trees by browsing upon them and gnawing their bark. 
Again, their sharp hoofs injure the roots, and their 
continuous tramping hardens the soil. 

Third, if grass is allowed to get into the wood lot 
it starves out the young seedlings or, at least, checks 
their growth. This is another good reason why the 
wood lot should never be pastured or seeded to grass. 

Fourth, old trees and dead trees should be carefully 
removed, the saw-timber saved, the limbs cut into 
wood, and the brush piled up neatly. As a rule, it 
is not a good plan to burn the brush. Many young 
trees are killed in this way. 

Fifth, when bare spots appear in the wood lot, young 
trees should be encouraged to grow there, either by 
planting seeds or young trees. Seedlings should be 



i66 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

thinned so that they will not starve each other out, 
and only the most useful, thrifty, and hardy kinds 
should be planted. 

Profit in the Wood Lot. — With a little care and at- 
tention on the part of the farmer the wood lot may be 
preserved and the land devoted to it be made to yield 
as large returns as other acres of the farm which are 
more carefully cultivated. 

Forests Prevent Droughts. — There are other good 
reasons why forests should be preserved in agricultural 
regions. The soil in the woods is very porous, and 
capable of absorbing large quantities of water, which 
runs off from cleared land and is wasted. This water 
is stored away as underground water. It feeds our 
wells and springs, and, moving upward, it increases 
the supply of capillary water in the soil, and thus be- 
comes available for the use of plants. It is well 
known that forest regions are seldom, if ever, affected 
by drought. Then, too, forests furnish homes for 
game, which all farmer boys delight in hunting, and 
for birds which feed upon insects that would injure 
our crops, if they were not held in check by the birds. 

Free Bulletins, XJ. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

Farmers* Bulletins. 

No. 54. — Some Common Birds in Their Relation to Agricul- 
ture. 

No. 150. — Clearing New Land. 

No. 173. — A Primer of Forestry. 



FORESTRY 167 

Problems. 

1. At $6 per cord, what is the value of a pile of 
wood 240 feet long, six feet high and four feet wide? 

2. A farmer gets six cords of wood from ten trees. 
With wood at $5.50 per cord, what is the value of 
these trees? 

3. What is the value of a single tree at the same 
rate ? 

4. Suppose there are fifty such trees on an acre, 
what is the value of the wood on this piece of land? 

5. What is the value of a wood lot of fifteen acres 
at the same rate? 

6. Suppose a farmer removes the five biggest trees 
per acre from his wood lot each year. If each tree 
makes ^ of a cord of wood, worth $6 per cord, and it 
costs 80c per cord for cutting, what profit does he 
make per acre on his wood lot? 

7. Compare this with the profit on an acre of oats. 

8. Compare it with the profit on an acre of corn. 

9. What will the profit on a twelve acre wood lot 
be at the same rate ? 

10. Compare this with the profit on twelve acres 
of meadow. 

11. Pupils make and solve similar problems from 
data furnished by the teacher, themselves or their 
parents. 



CHAPTER XXII 

HOME AND SCHOOL GROUNDS 

Influence of Home Surroundings. — Beautiful home 
surroundings exert an educational influence on the 
young, and add to the enjoyment of life for all. The 
proper provision of such surroundings is, therefore, a 
matter of importance to all who have, or expect to 
have, homes in the country. The tasteful arrange- 
ment and proper planting of home and school grounds 
require much thought and study in order to insure 
satisfactory results. 

Principles of Landscape Gardening. — In all land- 
scape gardening two principles must be observed : 

First, care must be taken in the selection of what 
is to be planted. A bunch of flowers does not neces- 
sarily constitute a bouquet ; intelligence must be em- 
ployed in their selection and arrangement. So in the 
planting of grounds wisdom must be exercised in the 
selection and distribution of plants, trees, and shrubs 
in order to produce a pleasing and durable result. 
Consideration should be given to the nature of the 
surface and soil ; and the location of everything planted 



HOME AND SCHOOL GROUNDS 169 

should harmonize with the lay of the land, concealing 
defects and emphasizing the attractive features. 

Second, the planting itself should be rightly done, 
so as to insure proper growth and permanence. Ar- 
bor Day has been celebrated by the planting of many 
thousands of trees throughout the Western States; 
but, in all probability, not 10 per cent of these are 
alive and in healthy growth at the present time. The 




A CORNER OF A WELL ARRANGED SCFIOOL GROUND. 
(Whitewater, Wis., Normal School.) 

practice of planting trees and naming them after great 
men, as Grant, Dewey, and the like, is a commend- 
able practice, if followed by proper care of the trees 
thus planted; but quite otherwise if the trees die and 
are consigned to the brush pile through neglect of 
our second principle. 

Application of Principles. — In order to apply these 
two principles successfully, it is necessary to make a 



I70 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

study of the grounds and also of the character- 
istics of trees and plants; their hardiness, their mode 
of growth, and their adaptation to the soil and other 
conditions. There are probably not more than a 
dozen kinds of trees, and as many species of shrubs, 
that are adapted to planting in small grounds, under 
ordinary conditions, in this climate. The proper loca- 
tion of drives and walks should receive due considera- 
tion before planting begins. Care should be taken not 
to plant trees too close together, or else there should be 
a definite plan for thinning them out as they approach 
full size. We should try to picture, not the small tree 
that we plant, but the tree that is to be. 

Selection of Trees for Planting. — Small, thrifty 
trees should ordinarily be selected for planting, rather 
than large ones. They are more likely to live and 
will be larger and more satisfactory at the end of a 
few years. If large trees are planted, they should be 
''headed in" unsparingly, and staked firmly. No tree, 
large or small, should be planted which is blemished 
or imperfect, or without a good equipment of roots. 
Perhaps the majority of trees are practically ruined 
by the destruction of roots in the digging. 

Preparation for Planting. — In preparation for plant- 
ing, the holes should be dug at least four feet in 
diameter and two feet in depth. If the soil is hard 
and poor, it should be replaced by good earth ; and in 
every case the trees should be well mulched with coarse 
litter that will remain in place. The work of planting 
cannot be done rightly by one person alone; it re- 



HOME AND SCHOOL GROUNDS 171 

quires two, one to handle the spade and one to handle 
the tree and adjust the soil properly around the roots, 
which should be spread out in their natural position. 
Do not use water in planting unless the soil is dry, 
and even then it is not best to use a great amount. 

Handling of the Trees. — In handling the trees be- 
tween digging and planting, great care is necessary to 
prevent the fine, fibrous roots — which are the really 
important ones — from becoming dry through exposure 
to sun or wind. The cut ends of all large roots should 
be re-cut smoothly with a sharp knife immediately 
before planting. 

Plants Adapted to School Grounds. — The following 
trees and shrubs have been planted on the grounds of a 
certain school, viz. : Arbor Vitge, Colorado Blue 
Spruce, Douglas Fir, Hemlock, Norway Spruce, 
Scotch Pine, Cut-leaved Birch, Norway Maple, Com- 
mon Barberry, Thunberg's Barberry, Dogwood, 
Golden Elder, Japanese Tree Lilac, Persian Lilac, 
Syringa, Rosa Rugosa, Russian Olive, Tartarian 
Honeysuckle, Spirea von Houttei, Snowball, Clematis, 
and Woodbine. 

Out of over 1,000 specimens planted, less than a 
dozen failed to live and thrive, since care was taken 
to follow the directions given above. 

Where to Secure Plants. — Some varieties of trees 
and shrubs may be dug in the woods, in some locali- 
ties ; but it is generally better, for school use, to get 
them right from the ground, from a reputable nursery- 
man, or from the gardens of people who are willing to 



172 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

contribute them. Sometimes they can be procured 
without cost from State Experiment Stations. 

The planting of home grounds may, perhaps, be lesj 
elaborate than that of public grounds ; but it needs 
no less care and attention to right methods. Sucl' 
work "pays in the heart ;" and no other work pays sc 
well as that which tends toward happy, cheerful life. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

Farmers' Bulletins. 

No. 134. — Tree Planting on Rural School Grounds. 
No. 185. — Beautifying the Home Grounds. 
Extracts. 

No. 91. — Lawns and Lawn Making. 

Problems. 

1. Measure the lot at home on which the hous( 
stands. How many square yards in it? How man} 
square rods? 

2. Draw a plan by scale of this lot, locating build 
ings, trees, flower beds, etc. 

3. Is there any way in which this plan might bi 
improved or the appearance of the grounds mad< 
more pleasing? 

4. Draw another plan showing location of build 
ings, flower beds, trees, walks, and drives as yoi 
would like to have them arranged. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



SCHOOL GARDENING 



The Development of School Gardening. — It has 
been a common practice in several European countries, 
for fully a century, to conduct gardens in connection 
with schools. 'This idea of making gardening a part 
of school work is rapidly growing in favor in our own 
country. The garden is a matter of great practical 
importance to all people living in the country, and it 
can be made a useful adjunct to the work of almost 
any school, if intelligently managed. 

Value of the Garden. — The study of agriculture has 
rightly been made a required subject in the schools of 
some states, and this must include some attention to 
gardening. The home garden ought to be the best 
part of the farm. And no department of agriculture 
is so well calculated to develop in boys and girls the 
power of keen observation and love for the beauty, 
variety and harmony which nature exhibits as that of 
gardening. Therefore, it is important that w^e do 
something with school gardening in order to assist 
and encourage home gardening. 

Si::e and Shape. — The size and shape of the school 



174 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



garden will depend, of course, upon the area and form 
of the lot. The nature and condition of the soil must 
be taken into account when we come to the decision 
of what shall be planted. 

Arrangement of School Grounds. — The school gar- 
den must not encroach upon the playground; play- 
grounds are an absolute necessity. If the school lot is 




GIRLS' SCHOOL GARDEN, YONKERS, N. Y. 

very small, the corners and strips along the fences 
may be used for garden purposes. If the grounds are 
large enough, the following arrangement is a good 
one: Place the flower-beds towards the front of the 
grounds, on each side of the front lawn. Back of the 
flower-beds, and next to the playgrounds, is a good 
location for shrubbery of various kinds. In the rear 
of the playground we may place the vegetable garden. 
Shrubs and vines may be planted along the back fence, 
with perhaps a border of wild flowers, ferns, etc. We 



SCHOOL GARDENING 175 

shall then have an arrangement like this, viz., front 
lawn, paths, flower-beds, playgrounds, vegetable gar- 
den, wild flowers, vines, etc. 

The Flower Beds. — In the flower beds a variety of 
plants may be grown, but good sense will be necessary 
in their selection ; success will depend greatly on this. 
Such, hardy bulbs as tulips, crocuses, and narcissuses 




BOYS' SCHOOL GARDEN, YONKERS, N. Y. 

should be included for spring blooming. Peonies, iris, 
phlox and other hardy perennials should have a place, 
as they survive from year to year with comparatively 
little trouble. Of annuals, only the more robust and 
easily grown should be attempted, such as asters, pe- 
tunias, poppies, nasturtiums and zinnias. Regard 
should always be had to the water supply, as it is hard 
to grow beautiful flowers in hot weather without plenty 
of water. A flower bed withering for want of mois- 
ture is a sorry sight. Weeds, which grow rapidly and 



176 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

rob the plants of light, water and food, should be 
carefully kept under. 

Essentials of Gardening. — In preparing the ground 
for planting, great care and patience should be exer- 
cised in enriching it and thoroughly pulverizing the 
top soil. Care should also be taken not to plant the 
seeds too deep, and not to let the surface become too 
dry while the seeds are germinating. These are funda- 
mental requirements in all gardening. 

List of Plants That May Be Grown. 

Vegetables : Peas, potatoes, sweet corn, pop corn, tomatoes, 
beans, lettuce, cabbages, cucumbers, radishes, beets, onions, par- 
snips, turnips, etc. 

Flowers, Perennials : Phlox, hollyhocks, sweet William, iris, 
hemerocallis, columbine, monkshood, etc. 

Annuals : Asters, four-o-clocks, marigolds, petunias, nas- 
turtiums, poppies, mignonette, sweet alyssum, phlox Drummondii, 
coreopsis, zinnias, sweet peas, etc. 

Bedding Plants : Verbenas, geraniums, salvia, etc. 

The above list might be greatly extended, but these are the 
things of easiest culture and surest returns. Probably no one 
will attempt to grow all of these in the same summer, but 
variety will be sought from season to season. It is better to 
grow a few things well than to attempt more than can be given 
thorough attention. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

Farmers* Bulletins. 

No. 218. — The School Garden. 
Extracts. 

No. 113. — Experimental Gardens and Grounds. 



CHAPTER XXIV 



HOME GAEDENING 



^ General Statement. — What has been said about the 
school garden will, much of it, apply equally well to 
the management of the home flower garden. In con- 
nection with country schools, vegetable gardening will 
not often be undertaken, as that requires more room 
and is more naturally connected with the home life; 
but city school children often develop great interest in 
the growing of vegetables. 

Importance of the Garden. — Every family in the 
country should pay great attention to the garden, be- 
cause of the profit and satisfaction which it affords. 
No other part of the farm of equal area pays one- 
tenth as well, financially, as a well-cultivated garden. 
Yet the garden is very apt to be neglected, and left to 
itself by farmers generally, from the mistaken idea 
that other work is more important. It is important, 
moreover, that the children in the home be trained 
to take an active part in the garden ; for this furnishes 
one of the best means for stimulating a love for the 
beautiful and inspiring things of life. The treatment 
of the subject of gardening in this book must neces- 



178 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

sarily be very general. Gardening includes something 
of agriculture, horticulture, and floriculture. It is 
not advisable that the garden should be very large or 
elaborate, so that its care will become burdensome. 
The flower garden should not be located directly in 
front of the house, but at one side. It is not well to 
place a flower bed in the middle of the lawn. Neither 
should the front lawn be crowded with trees and shrub- 
bery; there should be a good, clear stretch of grass, 
with the shrubbery around the skirts of it. The vege- 
table garden should be at the back of the house, or 
well to one side of the lawn and flower garden. It 
should be well fenced against poultry and other do- 
mestic animals. 

Preparation of the Soil. — The soil should be well 
fertilized with barnyard manure. Neglect of this is 
fatal to the best results. Weeds will grow in any soil, 
but good vegetables require good soil as well as good 
cultivation. In the preparation of the soil, and in 
planting, the following points should receive attention : 

(i) Plow carefully and well, so that all grass, 
weeds, manure, or litter will be thoroughly turned 
under. Do not plow when the ground is very wet. 

(2) Harrow and rake until the top soil is fine, 
removing sticks and stones. 

(3) The depth at which seeds should be planted 
depends, largely, upon the size of the seeds. Small 
seeds should be covered slightly but evenly. The 
character of the soil is also to be considered. In light, 



HOME GARDENING 179 

sandy soil, or in situations exposed to the wind, plant- 
ing should be deeper than under other conditions. 

(4) Many people err in building up the beds too 
high above the level of the paths, as the soil dries out 
rapidly when thus raised. If the beds can be worked 
from both sides, which is better, they may be made 
four or five feet wide. If they cannot be worked from 
both sides, three feet is about the limit of width. 

(5) The seeds should be planted in rows far 
enough apart to admit of passing a hoe freely between 
them. Flower seeds should, as a rule, be planted in 
rows crosswise of the beds. Judgment should be ex- 
ercised as to the time of planting. Onions, peas and 
potatoes may be planted as early as the ground can be 
worked. Flower seeds, as a rule, should not be planted 
until the ground is warm and danger from frost is 
past. Sweet peas, however, may be planted early and 
very deep, All peas should be planted at least three, 
or even four, inches deep. They should be planted in 
rows running north and south and provided with 
proper support. 

(6) The transplanting of cabbages, tomatoes, etc., 
should be done on a cloudy day, or towards evening. 
Plants should be set rather deep, and shaded from 
the next day's sun by a shingle or other shield. 

(7) The surface of seed beds should not be al- 
lowed to become dry or hard during the time of germi- 
nation. After plants are above the surface, the ground 
should be frequently stirred to prevent its baking or 
drying out, and to keep down weeds, which are much 



i8o ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

more easily killed while they are young. Properly thin 
out the plants. Great harm is done by over-crowding. 
This is one of the most common mistakes. 

(8) All vines, as cucumbers, melons and squashes 
should be carefully watched as they show the first 
leaves, to protect them from the bugs. The best pro- 
tection is to sprinkle them, dry, with Hammond's 
"Slug Shot," a preparation which no gardener can 
afford to be without, as it is especially useful for de- 
stroying the slugs on cabbages, currant and gooseberry 
bushes, and rose bushes. It is much safer as well as 
cheaper than paris green. For potatoes, however, 
nothing else is so effective as paris green in water. 

Free Bulletins, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 

No. 94. — The Vegetable Garden. 

No. 154. — The Home Fruit Garden : Preparation and Care. 
No. 156. — The Home Vineyard, with Special Reference to 
Northern Conditions. 
No. 198. — Strawberries. 
No. 213. — Raspberries. 



CHAPTER XXV 

BARN PLAN AND VENTILATION 

(Explanation of Barn Plan on Opposite Page.) 

A — Feed chutes and ventilating shafts, 3^x4 feet. 
B — Feed bins, 3^x7 feet. C — Hay mows, 20x40 
feet. D — Trap doors to stairs, 3x3 feet. F — Barn 
floor, 14x40 feet. G — Driveway, 10x55 feet. H — 
Horse stalls, 5x5 feet. I — Mangers, 3x5 feet. J — Al- 
leys, 5x15 feet. K — Alleys, 5x40 feet. L — Small 
feed spouts from bins. M — Mangers, 3 ^^7^x3 5 feet. 
O — Alleys, 2x15 feet. P — Cow spaces, 3^x4^ feet. 
R — Drop, 1x35 feet. S — S — Double doors. T — Win- 
dows hinged for ventilation. U — Alleys, 5x15 feet. 
V — Stairs to second floor. 

Suggested modifications of plan to suit convenience 
of builder: — Position and number of bins and feed 
chutes may be changed. Dimensions may be cut down 
by making alleys narrower. Horses may face wall. 
Partition may be left out. Doors may be hung on 
hinges instead of rollers, etc., etc. 

Importance of Ventilation. — In our efforts to pro- 
vide warm and comfortable quarters for our stock, 
we have overlooked, in many cases, the most impor- 
tant matter of all, — ^proper ventilation. 



l82 



ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 



_— — — — 


A 

•B 


s-» 


A 






ck 


B 


F 




« 






A 


|2> S 1 


A 
. ■■ ■ 







SEC ONI ftOOTJPLAH 




mm 




^" 


"" 


T 






T 


1 






K 




M 


1 
T 


» P 


P 


P 


P 


P 


P 


P 


P 


■ 


1 



■ ■■- « ■— ■ 


^ 


P 


P 


P 


p 


p 


p 


P 


P 


4 




' " "" ' 














^^ 








M 










1 



Fl R5T FLOOR PLAN 

PLAN FOR CONVENIENT TWO-STORY BARN. 

Dimensions 40x55 Feet. 



BARN VENTILATION 



183 




B 



VENTILATION PLAN. 

As we enter some stables on a winter's morning, 
after the barn has been closed all night, we are almost 
stifled by the odors and impurities that fill the air. 
These must be very harmful to the animals that are 
forced to breathe them over and over again. In such 






WINDOW VENTILATION PLAN. 

Note: The above is a modification of the "King System" of 
ventilation, a system in successful operation on some of our 
best dairy farms. 



i84 ELEMENTARY AGRICULTURE 

stables no provision is made for admitting fresh air, 
or for drawing off that which has become charged 
with impurities and robbed of its life-giving oxygen. 
Without doubt the alarming prevalence of tubercu- 
losis among cattle is largely due to this neglect. 

Plan for a Ventilated Barn. — This neglected feature 
of barn construction is deemed worthy of special men- 
tion in this book. On the following pages will be 
found detail plans for a barn provided with an ade- 
quate system of ventilation. 

A — Cross section, through feed chutes and venti- 
lating shafts, of the barn shown on preceding page. 
B — Cross section of the same barn, through ventilat- 
ing shafts, placed at the ends, on either side of the 
double doors. This method will, doubtless, be pre- 
ferred by some farmers, as it will allow of keeping 
feed chutes filled with hay, sufficient for several feed- 
ings. However, it is not a wise plan to leave hay 
throw^n down in the stables, as it will absorb the im- 
pure air and bad odors of the barn. In both cases feed 
chutes must be kept closed, in order to insure proper 
draft to ventilating shafts. C — Vertical section 
through floor, feed chute and ventilating shaft, show- 
ing trap door closed to insure proper circulation of 
air. D — Same, showing trap door open for feeding. 
E — Cross section of same at the second floor. Size 
of chute, 3x3^ feet. Size of ventilating shaft, 
J^x3j/< feet. F — Section through wall and window, 
showing sheetiron wind-shield, thrown back, and 



BARN VENTILATION i8s 

window open for summer ventilation. G — Same, 
showing shield in place for winter ventilation. 

Note I. This shield is made of sheet or galvanized 
iron, bent, as shown in sections E and F above, and 
screwed to the window frame. When in place it de- 
flects the air upward towards the ceiling, preventing 
drafts. The opening between this shield and the win- 
dow frame for the admission of air should be about 
two inches in width. When the shield is raised 
slightly, it allows the window to drop forward on its 
hinges at the bottom and to open fully. 

Note II. If round iron pipes are used for venti- 
lating instead of flues, they should be not less than 
fourteen inches in diameter. Their tops may be cov- 
ered with revolving hoods, specially constructed to 
create drafts. If less than four ventilating shafts are 
used, they should be large enough to have the same 
capacity. 

The bottoms of all ventilating shafts should open 
not more than one foot above the floor, and the«e 
openings should always be kept free from hay, straw 
or anything else that will prevent a free circulation 
of air. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 



CORN AND STOCK JUDGING 



The following score cards for com and stock judg- 
ing are the ones in use at the University of Tennessee 
and are here reproduced, by permission, with the hops 
that they will prove of value to those who are inter- 
ested in these more advanced phases of agriculture. 
They are easily understood and require no additional 
explanation. 







SCALE OF l>OINTS FOR SHEEP 


PfRFECI 
SCORf 


SIUOENI'S 
SCORE 


CORRECTED 
SCORE 




t 1 2 1 1 


2 




7. 

s. 

9. 

1 lb. 

'ir. 

u. 

'• 

14. 

r 

16. 
18. 
20. 




4 
8 
9 

7 

4 
1 
1 

1 
3 

1 

10 

10 

10 

2 

4 

& 

6 

1 

4 

4 

4 










1' 


WKIGHT. according to .ige. 6 montlis. 60-90 lbs Yearliug. 100160 
ll)s.. according to breed . 

FORM. deep, broad, level, low-set. stylish 

C'UALITY. bone clean .ncd firm, skin pink, hair silky, no tendency 
to co.irsencss over cheap cuts 

CONDITION, deep, even covering of firm flesh in regions of valnable 








3 P 

11. 

- Q. 
S 03 













6 







i'f 


HKAD. wool covering according to breed; month large, lips thin, (ace 
short, rehned. expression qiiitt: forehead bro.id. full: ears erect and 










Z'' 


wpru- =v,r.ri ii,;.v 








n 2 

t a. 


SHOULDtR VKI.N. full, blending nicely into neck 

SHOlLDliR. evenly covered, compact and smooth on top - 

BKISKET. extending well forward breast wide 




'j 






eo O 


CIIKST, full. deep. wide, crops, full; girth large, indicating constitu- 

BACK, broad, straight; ribs long, arched, thickly flashed 

LOIN, broad, thick, extending well forward _.- 












. 






...„ 








KUMP. long, level, wide, no prominence at tail lisad; small dock 

THIGH, full, fleshod well down to hock 




-S 0. ^ 


tu'i<;t f.,11 H....P 






" 


l,Kr..«;, slr-niglil, ilirvrl; ..liii.il. <.iiinnth, fiii» 




* G. 


C>i;antitv. !nnp. 4e""ie «->"n ., 




QU.-^LITY, fine, pure; crimp, close, even - 

CONDITION, blight, sound, clean, soft, light 














TOTAL 


100 












xj:niversity of Tennessee 

COLLEGE OF ACJRICULTURE 
STUDENT'S SCORE CARD 







SCALE OF POINTS FOR BEEF CATTLE 




Student's 
Score 


Corrected 
Score 






I 


2 


1 


2 






A 












Wtidhl, according to age, yearling, 800 lbs.; two year, l-'OO lbs 








i \^ 


Foriii, ileei), broad, low-set. with straiaht top line and under- 


5 










n \ 


Quality: Hair, fine: bone, fine but strong; skin, pliable, mellow, 
even covering of firm flesh, especially in region of 


10 










A. Genera 
38 


Condition, prime; flesh, deep; evidence of finish, especially, 
marked in the cod, at tail head, flank, shoulder, and 
throat 


10 










\:: 


Temperament, neither sluggish nor wild 

Constitution, vigorous, robust; showing size and substance 


3 
6 











s 


S. 


Head, clean, symmetrical; muzzle, broad; month and nostrils. 












£ = 




large; lips, mo-^.rately thin; eyes, large, clear, an" 
placid; face short, e.vprcssion, quiet; forhead. broad an,i 












'"•S' 


0. 




5 

4 

1 
1 
2 

8 
4 
6 










st: 


Nick, thick, sliort. tapering neatly from shoulder to head; 








/lO. 


Shoulder vein, full 






£ III. 


Shoulders, smooth, wellflesheil, compact on top 






requarl 
Points 


llriskcl, exleniliuL; well forward, but not too prominent; 










,! /l,'>. 


Dewlap, I ight 






\14. 


I.egs.straigM and short; arm, full; sliank, fine, smooth 

Chest, full, deep, an<l wide; girth, large; crops, full 








/IS. 








«) \'f' 








I|/l7. 


ll.ack, broad, straight, and evenly fleshed . 








'^"(C /IS. 




5 










Il9. 




5 

1 










"""*" 




Hips, smoothly covered; width in proportion with other parts 




/,. 






.=. 


linmp, lons.Ievel. wide, and even ;tail head, smooth, not patchy 
Pin bones, not prominent, width in proportion to other parts.. 






II). 






= r4 1 


Thighs, full, fleshed well down to hock 


4 













Twist, deep, full; pvrse in steers, full 


5 












\-5- 


Legs, straight, short; arm, full; shank, fine,' smooth 


3 














Total 


100 



















Anintal.. 
Studeni,,, 



.Date . 



STUDENT'S SCORE CARD 



SCALE OP POINTS FOR DAIRY CAniE 



Kstimatefl weight lbs., actual, ...lbs. 

Form, wedge-shaped as viewed from front, top, side, back and 
rear ; weight from SOO to lOOO lbs 



Quality: Hair, fine and soft; skin, of medium thickness, mellow 
and elastic; secretion yellow; bone, fine and clean 



06- ]\3. 



Temperament, sanguine 

Constitution, vigorous, robust; showing size and substance 

Muzzle, clean cut; mouth, large; nostrils, large 

Eyes, full, clear and placid 

Face, lean and long ; expression, quiet 

Forehead, broad, high and full 



Kars, of fine te.vtuie and medium size 

Neck, fine; length of ueck, medium; throat, clean; dewlap, 
light 



^i Ii7. 

o'o 

19. 



Oa.< 



\V it hers, lean and thin 

Shoulders, light and slanting 

t,egs, straight and short; shank, fine 

Chest, deep and low ; girth, large 

Ribs, broad, long and wide apart; stomach, large. 

r.ack, lean and straight; vertebra?, spaced 

Lo-n, broad, muscular 

Flank, thin, arching 

Navel, large, well-defined 

H ips, wide ; space between hooks, level 

Rump, long and wide 

Pin bones, hi;;h and wide apart 

Tail, loug and fine; switch, line 

'nuf;h, lo;;g and Ihiu 



Ivsci-.tcheon, sjireading over thighs and e.xlendins far upwards 

Uc'lcr, loui; and capacious, but not pendulous, e^:lending well 
np behind and far forward; quarters, even and free Irorn 
tieshiness 



Teats, large and evealy placed 

Milk veins, large, long and tortuous 

Milk wells, large 

Legs, straight and set well apart; shank, hne. 
Total 



Possible 
Score 



Student 
Score 



SCALE OF POINTS FOR LIGHT HORSES 



WLi;4lit Ihs. ; age ; color 

Htiijlit. Intimated hands ; actual 

Ci'iitorniation symmetrical, smooth, stylish 

Quality, hone clean, hrm, tendons defined; hair and skin tine 

Action, step smooth, long, active; trot rapid, straight, regular 

Temperament active, good disposition 

. Head, lean, straiglit 

Muzzle line, nostrils large, lips thin, corresponding teeth s(nind 

Ryes, tall. Iiright, clear, eyelids oval 

I'lvrchead, broad, full 

Tars medium size, pointed. neH carried 

Neck museled. crest high, throatlatch tine, windpipe large 

SlM.ilder. long, smooth; oblique, extending into back 

.\rm short and thrown forward; lorearm. miisclcd. lung, witle . 

Knees, clean, wide, straight. <leep, strongly supjioitcd; canon 
short, wide; tendons, large', set back 



Fetlocks, wide, straight; strong pasterns, angle with ground 4 
degrees ; 



Feet medium, even si7.e, horn dense, sole concave, bars stronj 
frog prominent and elastic, heels wide, high 



Withers muscled i 

Clicst deep, low, large girth 

Ribs. long, .sprung, close - 

Back, straight, short, broad, muscled 

Loins, wide, short, tliick 

L'nderline. long. Hank let down 

Hips, smooth, wide, level; croup, long, wide, muscular 

Tail, attached high, well carrieil 

Thigl'.s. long, muscular, spread, open angled 

Ou.-i.rters. heavily muscled, deep 



Gaskin, long, wide, muscular 

Hocks, clearly dehned. wide, btraight; canons, sh.ort, wide, 
sinews large, set l>'acl< 



Fetlocks, wide, str.iiglit : pasterns, strong, sloping •• ■ 

Feet, medium, even size, horii dense, frog prominent and cla- 
tic, bars strong, sole concave, heels wide, high 



Total. 



Perfect 
Score 



Students 
Score 



UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE 

COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE 



STUDENT'S SCORE CARD 



SCALE OF POINTS FOR S>VINE 



PIRFECI 
SCORt 



STODENr'S 
SCORE 



CORRECTED 
SCORE 



a. « 



Class or Grade 

1. Estimated weight lbs.; actual 1 

2. Weight, according to age, 6-8 months. 200-250 lbs 

3. Form, deep, broad, low. symmetrical, compact, standing 

squarely on legs 



4. Quality, hair silky; skiu fine; flesh smooth: mellow 
and free from wrinkles 



5. Condition, deep, even covering of flesh, especially in 
region of valuable ruts 



6. Snout, medium length, not coarse 

7. Eyes, full, mild, and bright 

S. Face, short, checks full. 

9. Ears, fine, medium size, soft 

10 Jowl, strong, neat and broad 

, 11. Neck, thick, medium length 

12. Shoulder, broad, deep, full, compact on top.. 



= (£ I 13. Breast, advanced, wide.. 



g— 14. Legs straight, short, and strong; bone clean; pasterns 
upright; feet, medium size 



CO a. 



15. Chest, deep, broad; large girth .'., 

16. Sides, deep, lengthy, full ; ribs close and well.sprung. . . 

17. Back, broad, straight, thickly and eveuly fieshed 

18. lyoin, wide, thick, straight 

I 19. Belly, straight, even 

20. Hips, wide apa't, smooth 

21. Rump, long, wide, evenly fleshed, straight 

22. Ham, heavily fleshed, plump, full, deep, wide 



23. Thighs, fleshed close to hocts 

24. Legs, straight, short, strong; bone clean;pasterns up 

right; feet, medium size 



TOTAL 



6 
10 
10 

10 

1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 

6 
2 
2 
4 
5 

10 
9 
2 
2 
2 

10 
2 
2 



100 



Animal 



StiLcUttt 



DaU 



CORN SCORE CARD 



Name of variety Souixe of sample 

Numbei of sami)]e — Character of soil 

STANDARD OF VARIETY 



Ivcngth Percent of grain to cob 

Circumference - Number of rows per car 



POINTS 


Perfect 
Score 


First 
Score 


Corrected 
Score 


1. UNIFORMITY. 






(a) EARS— Of sinie color, shape and di- 








men"%ions 


5 






(6) KEKNRLS — Of samo indentation and 






o 






2. TRUENESS OF TYPE. 








Conforins to variet)' standard of width 








thickness, and indentations of ftrain . . 


5 






3. COLOR. 








All grains of same color — reJ cob with 








yellow trrains; white cob with white 








g-rains ; but red cob with white g-rains 








for Tennessee Red Cob variety .... 


5 






4. EAR. 






(3.) LENGTH— Conforms to variety standard 


10 







(6)' CIRCUNfFERENCE — Conforms to va- 








riety standard 


5 


1 


(c) SHAPE— Cylindrical . 


5 






(d) TIP— Covered with grain 


5 






(e) BUTT — Evenly rounded beyor.d cob . . 
5. KERNEL. 


5 










Ui SHAPE— Wedge-shaped 


5 






(6) UNIFORMITY- -Of like size and shape. 
(c) SIZE OF GERM -Large 


5 

5 










6. SPACE. 








(a) Between rows- Close and without furrows 


5 






ib) Between grains — Without space between 








either tops or tips of grains in the row 
7. PROPORTION OF CORN TO COB. 


5 












Conforms to variety standard 

8. MARKET CONDITIONS. 


15 










Grains and cobs sound. Graitis not chalTy . 


10 












TOTAL 


100 







JUL IS 1909 



